UK and EU Trip

August 25th, 2019

Arriving Home, Lauren Runs Away, and Back-to-School Shopping,

Since we arrived home a bit after midnight, the kids came in and went pretty much straight to bed, as did I. Lauren stayed up just a bit to start some laundry she'd need later in the day, then headed to bed as well.

In the morning, the Allen kids were still up bright and early and ever so happy to see their Dad. The Ard kids woke up by association. Darn kids!

Since I'd been a bit distracted with running all over Europe, I hadn't gotten the kids school supplies yet (shame on me!!). So we spent a little time this morning ordering some of those from the amazing Amazon.

I had signed up for a college class that started on the 19th, but hadn't had good access, so I was way behind already. I spent the morning working on trying to get a little caught up while Dallas cooked breakfast and Lauren worked on packing. The kids enjoyed the opportunity to run around base and enjoy some space for the first time in a while.

After lunch, I continued on my classwork until about 2:00 pm when it was time to take Lauren to the train station near Ely. Luckily, I've been to this station, so it was an easy drop off. After that, I plugged in the base and headed off. I was rather lost in thought and didn't notice I was headed in the wrong direction! So it took me about a half hour longer than normal to get to the base.

I headed to the BX to pick up the supplies I couldn't get from Amazon (UK paper is a slightly different size than US!), and then headed home and back to the grind of school work, which I stuck to most of the evening.

The kids were happy enough to play around most of the day and splash around in the not-hot hot tub. Towards the evening, they were extra excited to have their tablets!

However, since school starts tomorrow (and I was exhausted!), it was an early bedtime for everyone!
August 24th, 2019

The Axiom, Peeing Dogs, Peeing Boys, Lots of Food and the Trip Home

We cleaned up and checked out of the AirBnB in the the Netherlands before heading toward Brussels, Belgium.

First we headed outside of the city center, to the Atomium. This was a originally built in 1958 for the Brussels World Fair. While we didn't go up, the kids seemed to enjoy just looking at it.

We made what was supposed to be a short pit stop at the toilet and Lauren took a couple kids in with her. What I didn't realize was they'd entered in the middle of the cleaning cycle and couldn't get out! Luckily, a couple of ladies were nearby and eventually helped them out.

While we were there, we took a picture of the kiddos at the Welcome sign

And then headed off towards the city. Originally, we had planned to park near the Atomium and take the metro, but I thought I'd remembered that there was parking near the city center along the canal. Unfortunately, my memory and reality didn't mesh as well as I had hoped. But with a little help from the Maps of Google and Lauren, and a lot of wrong turns, we eventually found a great parking place.

We corralled all the kiddos and headed out on foot. Past the statue of the peeing dog:

And on to the Grand Plaza which is quite spectacularly gilded:

Just around the corner from there, we stumbled upon a €2 Waffle Shop, which we just couldn't pass up! Lauren got the kids' orders and I tried to keep them contained, as well as contain the messy. But with those delicious waffles and tasty toppings, it was a little bit of a lost cause! Still, totally worth it! Yum!

After we finished those tasty treats we continued on our search for the Manneken Pis, but before we found it, we stumbled upon the Waffle Factory, which was the original place we planned to eat. And... Waffles! We couldn't pass them up!

This time, we ordered some savory stuffed waffles! The kids had hamburgers in waffle buns, I had ham and cheese and Lauren had curry chicken, all of which were rather delicious! And just around the corner from the statue we'd been in search of!

Now... all around the city, we'd been seeing copies of this statue. We'd even seen chocolate moulds of him. So, expectations were sit pretty high. But the statue is only about 24" tall, surrounded by a throng of tourist (of which we were part), and extra sadly, someone had spray painted the little guy! It was really a shame.

I think the chocolate moulds were actually bigger than the actual statue! But it was still fun.

After the little peeing boy, we headed towards the Royal Palace. Unfortunately, this was up hill! And my ankle was already hurting, and Harrison's toe was still pretty sore. So we took a break at the park outside of the palace and Lauren checked it out for us.

We were out of water, and Lauren spotted a kiosk in the park, so we swung by there on the way. Unfortunately, the attendant was amazingly rude! Which rather spoiled my mood for the Palace. jerk-face...

But we did go to the palace. And, while it was one of those places where you're herded through the roped off areas, to quickly see and push on with the other tourists, I was impressed with how well the kids handled it. And they were all impressed with how gilded and sparkly the palace was!

The last room we visited, however, was probably the most intersting. We walked in, and instead of gold, the room was trimmed in what looked like beads

What we found out was they were actually beetles! Kinda crazy to see! And surprisingly pretty for bugs!

The room was extra cool as there were some hands-on, science-y things for the kids to touch. Yay for touchable things!

After the palace, the plan had been to go to the Royal Armed Forces Museum, but we were all pretty tired and sore, so we hopped on the metro, which took us right back to the van. Yay for less walking!

We piled everyone back in the van, and off we drove. Today, we'd started in the Netherlands, then Belgium, and now we headed into France and Calais to the ferry port.

This was the first time I had driven the mini-bus back, and we were directed to the bus lane. I'd thought this would be tougher, but in fact it was pretty easy. They lead us through a quick line on the French side, had me move the van so they could check it, and then British customs as well. Quick and easy!

Since we'd skipped the last museum, we actually ended up at the port over an hour early, so they were kind enough to get us on an earlier ferry! Yay!

We did wait in line a while, but eventually got on the ferry. Once parked, we headed off and found the children's area. Unfortunately the boat was pretty full, but we dragged over some seats and passed the time on the ferry.

Eventually we arrived in England, the fourth country of the day! From there, it was pretty much a straight drive home. We arrived a little after midnight. It was sooooo nice to sleep in my own bed! Whew! What an adventure!

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August 23rd, 2019

Windmills, Bookstores, Frites, Playgrounds and Caves in Maastrict

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August 22nd, 2019

Landschaftspark, a Wildpark and Dropping Jason Off in Cologne

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August 21st, 2019

A Quick Exit, A VW Factory Tour, and Lots of Driving

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August 20th, 2019

Berlin: Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag Building, Check Point Charlie, The Berlin Wall and Playing in the Park

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August 19th, 2019

Stalag Luft III

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August 18, 2019

Bledny Skaly, A Step Into the Czech Republic and Sleeping at Zbrojna Debra Castle

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August 17, 2019

Lauren in Auschwitz, Park Zasole, Giant Burgers, Sleeping at the Farm

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August 16, 2019

Riana in Auschwitz, Dinner Out Again

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August 15, 2019

Obwarzanek Krakowski Making, 1000 Year Old Cellar Under a McDonalds, St. Mary's Bascillica, Cloth Tower Shopping, and a very Colorful Church and Out to Dinner

This morning we walked in town and headed to towards the old Cloth Hall. Along the way, we came across a cool sculpture of a giant head... Which of couse, the kids had to climb inside!

As well as a couple of lions!

The Cloth Hall was a center of international trade during the 15th century, primarily (obviously) cloth, though spices and wax were among it's other notable wares. Today, it is primarily a tourist destination. And we made the most of it! The kids had a fun time finding souvenirs that were withing their price range (that for once didn't include candy!)

Outside of the Cloth Hall, the market continues with additional stalls, with food, lace and china, among other things.

There was even a man whit a giant press, making souvenir coins.

Our next stop was

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August 14, 2019

Trouble with Parking, a Walk Around (and Around) the Castle, the Dragon's Dens, an Awesome Lunch, a Sold Out Museum, and the Greatest Museum, EVER!

When we'd found parking last night, it was past the time required to pay for parking, but we needed to get Polish coins for the parking. Lauren went out while I got the kids some breakfast, but the shops she went to weren't willing to give her the change she needed. So I took a couple kids with me (and some umbrellas, since it was raining) and we wandered around the block, and stopped as several little kiosks, and bought a couple small things at each one.

With one trip around the block, we had enough coins, and I bought a parking pass for what ended up being more than a full day, so, yay!

We headed back to the apartment, and headed to Krakow's castle, Wawel Castle.

We were looking for the Dragon's Den, but couldn't seem to find it, so we ended up walking around the whole castle about twice before we figured out where the entrance was! Wawel Castle is well known for the "dragon bones" in their cathedral, and these caves are where the Dragon is supposed to have hatched!

After the cave, we stopped for lunch at Pod Wawelem, which is a super cool restaurant that has nice food and a whole upstairs dedicated to a play room for the kids including two ball pits!

For lunch we bought the kids soup and Lauren and I split a kebab and pork ribs, both of which were pretty fabulous, as was dessert. Yummy!

After lunch, we headed to another love-lock bridge, the Bernatek Footbridge. What I didn't realize was that this bridge has some amazing acrobatic sculptures precariously balanced along the way. It was impressive to see how well they balanced. The kids kept double checking that they were indeed scuptures!

We found a good spot, and we put our locks on the bridge.

After the bridge, we walked to the Schindler Factory, but they were sold out! Dang it, and it was quite a walk to get there. And my ankle was still hurting from twisting it the night before. This didn't make for a super pleasant trip back after the frustration of not being able to see the factory.

But what we stopped at next was completely worth it! We went to the Pinball Museum! For one low(ish) entry price, we could play as many of the pinball and arcade games as we wanted all day! Even the littes got in on the action, for a while at least. Lauren eventually took Winter and Bowen back the apartment and I stayed with the bigger kids for several more hours. Even with a sore ankle, it was well worth it!

On the way back, we stopped at a kebab kiosk, and it was amazing! Sooooo yummy!

I don't think we made it back until after 10pm, but it was a fun day! (mostly!)

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August 13, 2019

Stuck in the Mud, Zookontakt and Leaving Slovakia (With a Fine)

This morning it was just a bit drizzly, which, with the problem of the van having slid a bit on the hill, made me a bit nervous for getting back down the track. We cleaned up the cabin and packed up the van, and gave it a shot.

Unfortunately, we just kept sliding backwards and the front tires were spinning. We tried adding some sticks, some gravel and even some pavers, but we just couldn't get the traction we needed to get going. I was kinda freaking out, honestly, since I wasn't sure how well a tow truck would make it up the hill either.

Lauren contacted the host for the AirBnB, who kindly said she would send help. And twenty minutes later, some young men came up with a 4x4 and a tow rope. After a little trial and error, they were able to pull us up off of the grass and on to the road. Yay!!

Though we were a couple hours late on the road, we headed further into Slovakia and to ZooKontakt, a petting zoo with a bit of a twist. Some of the animals you can pet include lions, tigers and bears! Really!

Well, because the animals didn't cooperate, only a couple of the kids got to pet the bears, but we got closer than I ever expected to be to some amazing creatures!

We also got to see some more traditional critters, like llamas, sheep, bunnies, and even some small kangaroos.

It did start raining while we were there, and we ducked into one of the bird areas (as it was covered) and it ended up being one of my favorite areas.

The kids all decided they now need a pet bird! (and a bunny, and a fox, and a ferret and pretty much every other animal they could think of!

Eventually, we did leave, and headed out of town. Only to be stopped just out of town by the police! Oh no!

Apparently, I was speeding, though, it sounded like I was going 63 km in a 60 km zone. Luckily, there was just a small €10 fine, which we were able to pay directly the the officer who pulled us over.

Between all of the mishaps with the vignette, getting stuck, and then getting pulled over, honestly, Slovakia did not make it to the top of my "would visit again" list. So I was releaved to head into Poland. We made it all the way to Krakow, and found parking quite close to our next AirBnB. Woohoo!

Unfortunately, as we were unloading the van, I ended up twisting my ankle. I was surprised at how badly it hurt, though I was still able to walk on it.

We had some dinner and headed off to beds. This AirBnB was one of the biggest we have stayed in, with 5 bedrooms and enough beds for almost everyone to have their own! And that is always excellent!

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August 12, 2019

A Day in the Woods

Today was an easy day, we didn't plan to go anywhere (Yay!!)

The kids played in the yard and worked together to build forts from sticks and rocks

And climbed the rest of the mountain!

And just generally had a good time in nature!

Lauren and I worked on sorting the van supplies and re-prepping for the next leg of the adventure.

Basically just a very chill day. Which was very necessary!

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August 11, 2019

Driving to Slovakia, Beckov Castle and Cabin in the Woods

This morning, we headed out of Austria and into Slovakia. While we've had to stop and get vignettes in Switzerland, Slovenia and Austria, I never had as much trouble as I did this morning trying to get one in Slovakia. Generally, it's a quick stop before you cross the boarder, and an easy purchase. But this time I made the mistake of stating that I was driving a 17 passenger mini-bus. Which the clerk seemed to think must mean that I was over the 3.5 ton limit for the traditional vignette, so he sent me down to a different office where the truck drivers buy their passes. But this clerk, immediately sent me back to the first clerk, who told me again that I needed to talk to the second clerk! I was feeling dizzy at this point!

I talked with the original clerk again, and said that it was just a van, and he said he needed paperwork to make sure. I had no idea what paperwork he could want, and tried to ask but he was as frustrated as I was at this point and said "just some paperwork!". Uhhhh... okay?

I went out and found the V5 registration information, which I had brought along just in case. And brought it back inside, waiting in line for the fourth time. He spent some time studying the V5 and questioning me on what it means... I donno!! I just know it's a van!

He was very stuck on the fact that surely a 17 passenger van must be huge! So once we finally agreed that his was the vignette that I needed, he asked how we could possibly fit 17 passengers in a van. I said, "Small seats?!" and invited him out to see it. Honestly, I was a bit surprised when he did, but not as surprised as he was when he saw all the kids and seats in the van!

With the vignette now purchased, we made our way to Beckov Castle.

We got there around lunch time, but since it was Sunday, most places seemed closed. We parked at the bottom of the hill, and looked up!

Did we really want to climb the hill? I'm lazy, man! But with Lauren's promise of icecream, we headed into town. Unfortunately, the first place seemed to be a bust on the ice cream front. So we walked on. Just before the path to the castle, we saw some fruit for sale in someone's yard, and bought a bag of what looked like cherries, but were in fact tiny plums.

Then we continued the hike up the hill. And up some more!

We bought our tickets, and climbed some more!

Honestly, this castle kind of surprised me, as I'd expected it to be mostly abandond ruins, but in fact had a small market, a stage, a working blacksmith forge and a falconry! But before we explored most of that, we headed up to the ruins above.

Then we came back down and checked out some of the exhibits.

We grabbed some hot dogs and ice cream, before heading back down the hill. Next to where we parked, there was a small park, which the kids begged to visit so they could try out the zipline! Yay for playgrounds!

After a quick trip for each kid, we headed in to the woods! We meet our next host at a parking lot down at the bottom of a small mountain, which we then had to follow her up a tiny road up, up big hills and when we reached almost the top, she had us park off the side of the road. She took Lauren to the cabin on foot.

After showing her around, Lauren came back and thought we could make it up the hill to the cabin, so we gave it a shot. Luckily, Bertha is a bit of a beast, and made it up the hill pretty well, though we parked in the grass, rather than making the last bit of the hill to the cabin.

The kids helped unload the van, and Lauren and I debated whether or not I should head back down the mountain to do the grocery shopping we needed to do.

I decided I'd rather do it tonight than have to head out tomorrow morning, so I went back down the hill, and to the Tesco. (Tesco?? In Slovakia?? Yup!)

Eventually I did make it back up to the cabin, and parked a little further down the hill than I had the first time, but still in the grass. I seemed to slide a bit, but thought it shouldn't be a problem once we weighed down the van with all the stuff. So I headed up the cabin, had some dinner and a couple drinks before sending the kiddos off to bed.

The cabin was pretty cool, I really liked the set up, but it had settled a bit over the years, which made heading up to bed and laying down just felt a bit wonky! But we survived!

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August 10th, 2019

A Day on the Danube and the Park in the Water

As I said yesterday, we swapped planned days, and today was a day at the park.

We headed to the Metro, and after several transfers, we made it to the van where we had the kids change into their swimsuits in the van, and walked a bit further to a park on the Danube River.

This park was probably the kids' favorite. It was a small water park, with a cool raft the kids could pull across the small pond along a rope.

The kids splashed away the whole day here. They built sand castles and played in the water and just plain had fun.

While we tried to keep the kids covered in sunscreen, but Bowen still ended up pretty red. By the afternoon we tried to keep the kids in the shade as much as possible.

But eventually, we did have to take the kids back. We took them back to the van and they got changed again, and we headed back to bia the Metro to the AirBnB. Dinner and bed for all!

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August 9th, 2019

Lipizzaner Stallions, St Stephen's Cathedral and the Catacombs

Because of the heat, we swapped what was planned for our two days in Vienna. Instead of going to the river, we headed into town.

Our first stop was at the Spanish Riding School for a practice session. We didn't think the kids would really appreciate and or sit through an actual performance but I really wanted to see them, and several of the kids really love their horses!

I didn't realize that we couldn't take pictures during the session, so I took several before I was told we couldn't. Shhhh!

We stayed there longer than some of the kids would have prefered and not as long and others would have liked. Sigh, we can't please everyone all the time!

Vienna really is an amazing city. it seems like everywhere you turn, there is a fantastic building or a spectacular statue.

We headed to the Naaschmarkt and checked out the market and got some fruit.

After lunch, we headed over to St. Stephen's Cathedral. They have a tour under their cathedral of the catacombs. We waited at the wrong place for a while before realizing that we were actually at the exit! So we headed to the correct entrance and waited again!

We did eventually get to check out the catacombs, though we were asked not to take pictures, which I respected this time.

After the tour, we headed back to the AirBnb, and after some trouble making dinner, we finally got kids fed, and they watched some tablet time, and then off to bed for everyone!

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August 8th, 2019

The Clock Tower and Snails, The Clock Museum, a Bakery, Kunsthaus Graz: The Modern Art Museum, and the Trip to Vienna

Graz is a nice city and the hostel was quite centrally located. In the morning, we had a quick breakfast and headed out into the city.

First, we headed through the city, including a walk along the bridge, Murinsel on the Mur River.

There were some cool buildings as well

But our first destination was the Clock Tower. Fortunately, to get to the top, there were only a couple options. The first being the stairs, which several kids decided was the best option

The rest of us, however, decided the elevator was the better option. From the elevator, we could see one of the options to come back down: a slide!

What with buying the tickets and a small wait for the elevator, the kids climbing the stairs made it up to the top before we did. We took some pictures, then the kids climbed down more stairs and into a beautiful garden area, with a gorgeous view across the city.

The kids actually had more fun checking out the snails in the park... .of course! lol

As we came back up, there was a man playing the accordian and a tiny little drum set.

We eventually headed back down, using the Funiculuar, which is kinda a diagonal elevator down the side of the hill.

After the clock tower, we headed to the Clock Museum. While this was super cool, it was also a bit tougher for the kids, especially the littles, since this was absolutely a no-touch sort of museum!

Soooo many cool clocks!

We walked around the town a bit more and headed to an ancient bakery.

This is the oldest still functioning bakery, functioning since 1569! The stuff inside was prettu expensive but some of the kids still were able to get a couple small treats (and some gelato down the road!)

After the gelato, we headed to the Kunsthaus Graz which is a modern art museum. It had some really interesting displays

Including a whole floor of a sort of light show.. thing?

One of the areas was very kid friendly. They had a spot where the kids could draw or cut paper and then include it in a combined display. The kids could also literally climb the walls, which they, of course, did!

We did eventually leave and headed back to the van. Unfortunately, when we got back to it there was a ticket on the windshield! Argh!! Apparently, there it was illegal to park facing the wrong direction.

After a bit more frustration, we go all the kids back in the car and headed down the road to Vienna and our AirBnb there. Unfortunately, the frustration didn't stop there. We made it to Vienna, but since the AirBnb was in the middle of town, we have planned to park over by the river, about 20 minutes drive away.

So, before leaving Graz, we had packed up the necessities in a suitcase and I dropped Lauren, the kids, the suitcase, the stroller and the fans off, and headed off to find the parking.

Driving through Vienna, in rush hour, was... stressful.

I did make it to the parking just fine though I had to remember to breathe a couple times. After a bit of walking, I grabbed a kebab before testing out the Metro. It ended up taking me almost 2 hours to get back to the apartment! Then it was definitely bed time, at least for me!

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August 7th, 2019

Lake Bled and Vintgar Gorge and a Hostel in Graz

This morning, we left Ljubljana and headed out to Lake Bled. This is a gorgeous lake in the Alps. The water was so very clear and sparkly.

The kids had the best time jumping and diving off the dock into the water.

We also tried some "Bled Cake" which was kinda of a pudding topped with Whipped cream between two pastry crusts, and, of course, delicious!

Eventually, we dragged the kids away from the water, made them change, and took them to Vintgar Gorge. This was only a short drive away to the parking area for Vintgar, though we had to ride a mini bus from there to the gorge itself.

Previously, the gorge had been free, but becuase of the internet, it's become so popular, they now ask for an entry fee. But well worth the fee. Yet another spectacular place we were able to see.

It was an easy enough hike, and truly beautiful.

Eventually, we did meander our way back and eventually made it back to the van and headed on to the city of Graz, and where we stayed in hostel.

Unfortunately, parking was an issue, as we didn't fit in the parking garage. And the kitchen was under construction. And there was no laundry. And.... it just wasn't what we expected. It was, however, very nice to have two rooms, one for each family and have a little space to ourselves. So we had a cold dinner of meats, cheeses, and crackers and an early bedtime.

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August 6th, 2019

Love locks, the Market, Dumplings, a River Cruise and the Museum of Illusions and Dinner with Lauren

After a breakfast of yougurt and granola, we headed out into the city. We started with heading to the Butcher's Bridge(a "love lock bridge"). Lauren, ever amazing, had ordered a bunch of small locks for each of the kids, and they were able to lock their own tiny love locks onto the bridge.

After the bridge, we checked out the market and grabbed some delicious fruit and of course some souvenirs.

Just off the market area, there was a restaurant, Moji štruklji Slovenije which offers dumplings. Now, I was thinking more like Chinese dumplings but these are more like layered crepes, with delicious fillings and piled up into almost a loaf.

Lauren ordered 9 savory ones and 6 sweet ones. 15 dumplings!! And we devoured them all! My favorite was probably the cheese and chive one, but of course the kids liked the sweet ones like the Chocolate Banana and Mango ones.

We still had a bit of time after lunch and before out river trip. So we headed to a small park. And the kids decided to play in the leaves. They made a giant pile of leaves and then children started hiding in them. It was pretty stinkin' cute.

After the leaves, we did hope on a boat trip around the river of Ljubljanica. There are a number of beautiful bridges, including the Dragon Bridge which is the sort of mascot of Ljubljana.

I think the highlight of the river trip for the kids was seeing what we originally thought was a beaver, but ended up being maybe a Coypu as it had a skinny tail.

After the river cruise, we wandered about a bit more, before taking the kids back to the AirBnB and making them a quick dinner. Lauren and I waited as we'd made a reservation at Manna which was a quick walk away.

And Manna might well give the castle up in Scotland a run for it's money with it's dishes, and our waiter kept us entertained throughout the night.

As we were eventually making our way home, there were two live bands playing outside of different pubs just along our way back. Ljubljana is a happening place!

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August 5th, 20109

A Castle Built in a Cave and Hot Horse Burgers

We continued our journey in Slovenia and headed towards the capital city, Ljubljana. Along the way, we stopped at Predjama Castle, which is a very old castle, built into a cliff.

We drove towards the castle and made it almost there, but were told to turn back as there was no parking. Sigh... So we turned and headed back down the road about 15 minutes to a park and ride area. We found a spot to park and walked towards the buses.

As we walked, we had to cross a bridge, and the kids decided to share their pretzels with the ducks and fish on the pond below.

We found another spot to feed the fish and discovered that while the kids were feeding the fish, and they were distracted, another fish was feeding on them! The kids were so excited to see the fish darting and it would even splash them as it quickly turned back in to hide.

We did eventually convince them to go to the bus, and we rode on to the castle.

The castle itself is pretty interesting. It was built into the side ofa cliff, but the front half of the castle is similar to others we've seen. It has your traditional Coat of Arms

Family dinning rooms,

Bedrooms,

There was even living quarters for their own clergy and a chapel area that was accessible from the living quarters of the Lord of the Castle.

And, what castle would be complete without your typical torture chambers?

The history of the castle comes complete with a rogue Robin Hood like figure, a knight named Erasmus of Lueg, who was hid in this castle to avoid punishment for a murder he committed. The castle was under seige, but because of a network of tunnels in the caves behind the castle, Erasmus was able to go and hunt and gather food from the surrounding land. The seige finally ended with a servant turning on Erasmus and telling the assaulting parties when he was on the loo, the only weak spot. He was killed by a cannon shot.

We weren't allowed to see the loo area, as it was weakened, but here are the kids sitting on some cannon balls just out side!

The more traditional part of the castle gives way to a series of caves which were also utilized, including the gathering of water that dripped through the cave walls.

After a climb up and back down the stairs to that part, we also visited the throne room, and saw some examples of weapons

Eventually, we did have to leave, and we headed back to the bus, and then to the van and along our way.

We made it to the capital city of Ljubljana and a park in the city. The kids played while Lauren went to a Hot Horse food stand and bought us each a horse burger. Yup, horse!

They don't taste much different from hamburger meat and where pretty stinkin' tasty!

Most of the kids liked them just fine, and when they finished eating they played for just a bit longer before we headed out to find out AirBnb, also in the city.

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August 4th, 2019

A day at the Beach

Today was a really relaxed day, the only thing we had scheduled was a trip to the beach, which was a nice break after several busy days or long drives.

In the morning, I had some cuddle time with the first couple kids as they woke up. Then I started making a couple muffuletta sandwiches for later in the day.

By about 8:00, everyone was more or less awake, and Lauren made eggs for breakfast. As the kids finished, we sent them off to change into their swimsuits. We packed up some water, some snacks and whatever was left over for lunch and got them in the van.

Our lovely AirBnB is in Slovenia, but we drove 15 minutes and were back in Italy. As we neared the beach, we started seeing people parked along the road, and I started to worry about parking. The closer we got, the more worried I was, but we found a giant parking area ahead that had pay parking. As we drove up, we found it was 18 euros to park all day. We started counting out change... we got to about 16! Ekk!

Luckily, I found a 10 euro note tucked away in the wrong compartment and we were able to get in and found a good parking spot, gathered the supplies and headed to the beach.

Eventually, we got to the area Lauren had researched as being good for the kids as it had a more gentle slope into the ocean. The whole beach was quite busy, but we found a spot close to some shade and spread out blankets and towels, slathered on the sunscreen, and headed to the water.

The water was a perfect temperature: just cool enough to cool you off after being in the just too warm sun. The beach was a rocky one, rather than sandy, but that was kind of nice, as the rocks don't quite get everywhere like sand does. Though it was slightly less comfortable to lay on.

Winter was a bit hesitant to get in the water because of some scratches she had on her legs, but once I got her in, she was so happy to float around with her little arm floaties. I was really impressed with her ability to get around.

All of the kids had a good time in the water. Lily and Autumn were practicing their swimming, as they aren't too confident in their ability, but they were doing quite well.

Lauren and I spent time between the beach, the water, and she took some of the kids to a playground just a little ways from part of the beach we were on.

The kids spent the majority of their time in the water, which was no surprise.

They did get out for a simple lunch of PB&J, crackers and pate and dried fruit. And extra sunscreen!

Then, back to the water they went! Luckily, the shade had shifted, and our blanket was now in at least partly in the shade, so I read a bit until I'd get too hot, then head into the water for a bit and play with the kids, then head back to the beach to read.

We had to apply the sunscreen a couple more times, just to be safe. Especially for the fair skinned ones, we didn't want to deal with sunburns!

We ended up spending about 6 hours at the beach, and it was lovely! I really do love spending time at the water!

We came back to Slovenia to our AirBnB, and worked through the kids, getting them all showered and dressed. Once we'd made it through everyone, we had the muffuletta for dinner, and it was delicious!

The kids watched some TV and we sent them to bed early. You would think after spending so much time at the beach they'd have been ready for bed, but it was still a bit of a struggle to get them all to bed (mostly the littles, and Winter did nap on the way home, so I guess no big surprise!)

Go To Next Day
August 3rd, 2019

Hand-made Amusement Park Rides and Man-Made Caves

Today we headed were headed out of Italy, but there were still plenty of things to explore before we left!

About an hour's drive from Venice is a super cool place called Osteria Ai Pioppi. This is an amusement park that was all built buy hand and is people powered. Even more cool? It's free! Yes, FREE!

It opened at 10:30 and we arrived right about then and the kids were off and running! There were a number of smaller rides that Winter and Bowen could still ride and some that were definitely for bigger kids and adults!

It was really impressive to see the creativity that went into the rides, and Lauren said you could teach a whole physics class out there! So, who knows, maybe the kids learned something while they were having fun?

My favorite part of the day was definitely Lauren riding one of the roller coasters!

We did eat lunch here, and the kids had sandwiches and fries and Lauren and I ate some mushrooms and snails (which almost all of the kids tried) and fried cheese and polenta. Yum!

After lunch, the kids went back to the rides for a bit, but we did have more things to see, so eventually we had to herd them back to the van.

About another hour on the road, and we made it to the Caves of Caglieron This was about a mile long hike to see some caves. These caves are even more interesting as they were man-made about 500 years ago. The people didn't want to dig down to quarry the limestone, so they went in from the side and created caves supported by stone pillars.

Meadow deigned to stay in the van, but the rest of us toughed out the hike.

The first half of the hike was through the caves and was quite beautiful.

The second half was less aesthetically appealing and all up hill! Ugh, I need to exercise more!

We didn't stay too long, and grabbed a snack before another reasonably short drive out of Italy and into Slovenia. And then back into Italy briefly, and then into Slovenia again!

We're staying an another AirBnB, of course. This one is smaller than the last, but the yard is fantastic, so the kids played out there while Lauren started on laundry (again) and I sorted food and started dinner. I realized I'd missed some things when I went shopping last and we were running lower than planned on food.

I still managed to throw together a pretty amazing dinner with bagatelli pasta, truffle spread, garlic and olive oil, topped with parmesan cheese. Everyone really seemed to enjoy it! Yay!

Then some TV time for the kids, and an early night for me!

Go To Next Day
August 2nd, 2019

Happy Anniversary Riana and Dallas! And Venice

Happy Anniversary to Dallas and Riana!

This morning, I tried to get some work done, but was having serious connection issues again, so I worked on the blog instead, as I was quite behind.

But I couldn't stay stuck behind my computer for too long, as we had a new city to expore: Venice!

We ate a quick breakfast, got everyone ready and headed to the van. We tested out the new tablet for the half hour drive in, and though it's not as simple as the set up for the previous tablet, it definitely works, and the kids got to watch a documentary on Venice on the trip.

I'm not sure why, but I was quite stressed with the drive into Venice, but it was pretty straight forward to get to the bus parking, and then we walked in to the city itself.

Venice is really spectacular, I now definitely see why it's such a top tourist attraction! Luckily, today was quite a bit cooler than yesterday, though it was supposed to rain for most of the day. That did seem to keep the streets quieter in the morning when we were struck by a couple showers. But the kids had umbrellas, or didn't mind the rain, and it kept me cool, so I thought it was great!

We did take the stroller, which was good for the littles, but hard to handle as Venice is covered in stepped bridges. But we made it work! Huge thanks to Cozy, Harrison and Austin for often being the ones to lift the front of the stroller when we had to take it over bridges. What great helpers!

While I know that Venice is known for their masks, I didn't expect there to be so many shops with such extraordinary masks!

The kids were dying to get them, until they saw the price tags. (Admittedly, so was I!)

The day was actually really nice. There was some light rain throughout the morning, which kept it cooler and kept the crowds down a bit.

We stopped for a lunch of hot dogs wrapped in spiral potatoes, which were surprisingly good.

Then on to explore!

We went to a small market and got some additional snacks.

We saw a lot of gondolas, and even more bridges!

We went to a pastry shop, where the pastries are made in the shape of other foods

Though the highlight was probably the gelato closely followed by the Saint Mark's Bascilica. The outside is simply spectacular.

We decided it was worth the wait in the line to see the inside, though we were weren't allowed to take pictures inside, it was just as impressive!

On the trip back, we did stop and get some simple masks for those who wanted to spend their hard-earned money.

And a bit of candy for those who had behaved so very well that day (which was all of them! Yay!)

We walked the rest of the way back to the van, and then drove back to the previous AirBnb. I would love to have swum, but it was raining, and I wasn't sure if the issues with the filter were corrected or not.

So we had a simple dinner and off to bed we went!

Go To Next Day
August 1, 2019

A New Tablet, Grocery Shopping and the Pool

Thankfully, today was scheduled to be mostly an off day, to recover and relax. The kids did their journals, had some breakfast and were excited to spend the day in the pool.

Lauren was going to spend the day organizing the stuff from the van, and catching up on laundry (some more!) As well as re-downloading some movies to the tablet. Though, the one thing this AirBnB is lacking is any sort of Wifi! We've had to use the wifi dongles we brought, but I've been having connection issues for the entirety of our stay, so this took longer than it should have!

I had the task of driving into town and buying a tablet and groceries.

We had found a MediaWorld online that wasn't too far away, so I headed there, and had a three-way conversation between the guy who knew computers and tablets and the guy who spoke English. But after some back and forth, and some text messages with Lauren, we settled on a tablet, a case and a memory card, which I bought.

I tucked that away into the safe for security, before heading to the COOP market for groceries. This COOP was reasonably big, which should be a plus, but, since everything is, understandably, in Italian, and I'm completely unfamiliar with the store, it took me a lot of trips to get most of the items from my list. And there were still things I couldn't find, but are probably easily found by someone in the know.

Ah well, I did what I could. Since we had cleared out the van to organize the contents, I'd forgotten to grab the reusable bags, and thought I'd just set everything in the back. Well, this worked fine, until someone pulled out in front of me and I had to step on the breaks a bit too hard. That poor watermelon didn't know what hit him!

The kids had spent pretty much the entire time in the pool and were eager to show me what they had been up to, so I swapped into my swimsuit and jumped in.

We played for a bit, until I saw some pool pump parts sitting on the side of the decking. I asked what it was and the kids said it had broken off the filter. WHAT?!?!

Apparently someone had repeatedly been using it as a step to get out of the pool! Nooooo!!!! That person got kicked out of the pool. I tried to fit it back on, but the filter was starting to sound a bit weird. I wasn't sure if I was just now noticing it because it was quiet and it had always been like that, or if the filter was now clogged! Ekkk!

Everyone got kicked out at that point, since no one had bothered to tell an adult when it had been broken. Some very sad kids, and some very angry adults were the result, as we still weren't sure what kind of damage had been done! We messaged both the neighbor who had let us on the property, as well as the AirBnB owner, and the kids were told to stay outside until they were dry. Which they didn't! And sat on nice couches with wet bums!

More yelling and threats ensued, and eventually, all the kids were sent off to bed to take a nap and for adults to calm down.

The neighbor came out, but as he only spoke Italian, I wasn't sure what was going on. So he messed with the pool for a while and I sorted van stuff and Lauren laundry-ed for the rest of the afternoon.

We kept meals pretty simple again and after naps, the kids stayed in and watched some movies and had a calm rest of the day.

Go To Next Day
July 31st, 2019

The Stolen Tablet and The Last Long Drive

The morning started rather nicely, I got some work done. I started packing things up. I took some things down to the van. But something was odd. The driver's side window was down and the door was unlocked. Now, I was sure I had locked up the night before, but maybe Lauren had gone down and opened it up?

I asked her once she woke up, but no, she hadn't. She had the thought, "What about the tablet!?" Though I had brought in my laptop and accouterments, as well as the backpack that was currently holding the passports, we had left the tablet in it's case in the back of the van!

She ran out to check, and sure enough, someone had broken into the van and stolen the tablet. Luckily, it seems that that was the only thing that was taken, and they didn't break anything to get in. But Lauren was really upset about it. I've honestly never seen Lauren cry, but this brought her to tears.

While the tablet was easy (though expensive) to replace, she had spent hours upon hours curating and downloading the movies for the trip that would be interesting and educational for the kids. And that information wasn't backed up anywhere. And we had an incredibly long drive in front of us that day!

I stayed with the kids while they ate breakfast, and she used my laptop to download some movies she thought the kids would enjoy for this trip, but I think it was really disheartening to have lost all that work she had done. She was also worried about how the kids would act if we didn't have something for them to watch for such a long drive.

She did end up getting just enough downloaded, and I packed up the rest of the stuff and we checked out just at check out time.

We ended up starting out a couple hours later than planned, but since we had done Herculaneum the day before, we weren't too far off schedule.

So, for the next 8 hours or so, we drove. And drove. And Drove!

We drove all the way from Pompeii, to just outside of Venice, where our fanciest AirBnB to date awaited.

Now, this place is nice! It has 5 bedrooms, and enough beds for everyone. Air conditioning upstairs. A nice kitchen and two tables in the dinning room, so everyone can actually sit and eat at the same time!

But the best part? It has a pool! And man, did that feel amazing after a day of driving! After we emptied out the van completely, the kids and I swam for a bit and Lauren worked on the constant battle with laundry.

We had a simple monument pasta dinner, and settled down with a movie before everyone went off to bed.

Go To Next Day
July 30th, 2019

Herculaneum and Pompeii

This morning, we made a reasonably quick exit from the AirBnB. Originally, we had planned to take the metro back to the van. But with the suitcase, and us being tired from a couple long days of walking, we decided to take two Ubers back instead. Lauren ordered a big van and took the stroller and the suitcase, in case there was any problems with me getting mine as my phone was almost dead. Luckily, it lasted until Marco pulled up in his shiny black Mercedes. Austin and Harrison were with me and were fully impressed with his car.

This was the first time I've ever used Uber, and boy was I happy we had. Not only did it save walking, but having someone who is familiar with the streets and traffic flow of a place is pretty priceless. I about had a panic attack just watching him drive in Rome traffic! And compared to the metro, it saved so much time. Win-win!

Once back at Bertha, we met up with Lauren and the rest of the crew, got everything stowed away and got back on the road. After watching Marco drive through central Rome, the outskirts shouldn't have been quite so stressful, but they still were.

Eventually, we did get out of Rome and headed towards Pompeii. On the drive, Lauren suggested that we stop at Herculaneum on the way, even though it was scheduled for tomorrow. This shortened our day tomorrow and, it was literally on the way, so we did.

On the drive down, the kids watched a couple cool documentaries on Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius, which also included Herculaneum. They learned about what happened when the volcano erupted and how those in the towns would have died and their bodies been preserved. It was a bit heartbreaking, but also rather fascinating.

We arrived at Herculaneum after a bit of in-city driving that stressed me out, and found bus parking close by. After a short walk and the obligatory potty stops, we headed into the archeological site.

It's truly amazing to see how much has remained intact after nearly 2000 years!

One thing we learned from the videos is that the people of Herculaneum had sheltered in the boathouses in hopes of staying safe from the ash and pumic. However, several superheated cloud of gas rolled down the mountain, and this would have basically vaporized the people where they were. Tragic, but hopefully a quick death for the hundreds sheltered there.

The boathouses were the end of the tour, which we hadn't realized, but I wasn't up for much more walking in the heat. So once we exited, and still had time before we could check in to our AirBnB, Lauren took a couple kids with her and went back to see some things we had skimmed over along the way.

After we met back up, we headed back to the van, and the short way further to our AirBnB in Pompeii.

Once we arrived, we were supposed to have parking at the AirBnB, which was actually more like a boutique hotel. But the van was too tall to fit, so we ended up parked on the street in front. Now, admittedly, this part of town seemed a bit sketchy, but we did make sure to lock up the van after we took in what we would need.

We had three separate rooms, so Lauren and her kids took one, Austin, Harrison and Autumn took another and Lily, Winter and I shared the last one. We took some time at the hotel to cool off in their blessed air conditioning! The kids watched Italian cartoons in Lauren's room, and I worked for a bit.

At 4, Lauren had booked a walking tour of Pompeii, so she left just before then. I finished up some things for work, fed the children some dinner and headed out. It was a reasonably short walk from the hotel to the archaeological site and we made it there about 5ish.

As we stood in line, the group in front of us seemed to be taking a while, so I sent all the kids off to use the bathroom that was right there by the ticket counter. Of course, as soon as they were all in the bathroom, the group cleared and I went up to purchase my tickets. Now, adults have to pay, but children under 16 are free, so I asked for one adult ticket and 9 children. The ticket seller looked at me, repeated 9 children, which I confirmed. He looked quite doubtful. He said he was going to have to see the children. I said, sure. So he sold me the one ticket for myself, and I stepped to the side.

One by one, the kids came out from the bathroom, and lined up along the wall. After about 6 kids were done, he called me back over and gave me the ticket for all 9 kids. I laughed a little, but still waited for the remaining children and made sure to get his attention so he could see as we passed by to enter. His reaction was pretty funny to me, but, I guess I shouldn't be surprised! I mean, seriously, who travels with 9 kids under 16?? Oh, yeah, us!

We entered Pompeii, and this site is massive! It is, in fact, a whole town.

Near the entrance, there is a granary where many of the artifacts are stored, in addition to several casts.

After visiting the granary, we continued, rather randomly down some streets. Now, for the entirety of the trip, the kids have been playing "The Floor is Lava". So, of course, Pompeii was no exception. Though after a couple rounds of it, I did have to point out the aptness of their game, and they laughed!

Pompeii, like Herculaneum, is pretty amazing in what has survived intact. Full murals, complete mosaic floors. Statues and pottery. Though much has been looted over the years, it is surreal to walk down the streets that are much the same as they would have been 2000 years ago.

After some random walking, Lauren's tour ended, and she met up with us. She showed us the bakery, where slaves would have manually turned the stones to grind the wheat, and the oven where the bread would have been baked.

She took us on more random streets, but with a specific direction in mind.

And eventually we ended up at the Amphitheater. The kids, being kids, decided to race around the space in a test to see who was fastest. Much like a chariot race might have been held.

But, it was late, and the site closes at 7:30, so we had to head back the way we came and they were closing everything up for the night.

Pompeii is absolutely epic, and Lauren and I discussed that we could spend a week methodically going down each street and seeing the sites and still not see everything. All-in-all, simply amazing!

We headed back to the hotel to cool down, and settle down for bed. Whew, another long day!

Go To Next Day
July 29th, 2019

Campo de Fiori, Pantheon, St. Ignacious, Trevi Fountain, Spainsh Steps, and St. Peter's Basilica

Ahhh, Rome! What a nifty town!

I had to do some work this morning, so Lauren took th ekids to Campo de Fiori, which is a market area. It was lovely to have the quiet for a bit and get some focused work done.

After everyone came back, we all left again and walked to the Pantheon.

It's much bigger than I remember! The Pantheon has the largest unsupported cement dome in the world. The kids wandered around a bit, but weren't really that interested.

So, we continued on our way to St. Ignacious Church. I was a little worried they wouldn't let me in as my shoulders weren't covered, but they did anyways. This is another ornate church. It actually reminded me of the church in Lucerne a couple days ago. But the crowning glory of this church was definitely the ceiling!

Again, our stop wasn't super long, and we continued on our walk. Lauren, yet again, found us some cool, unexpected sites. First was the Galaria Sciarra. It's a plaza that is painted in the Victorian style.

And next it was the Zaccari palace, with some interesting doors and windows:

This stop was really just a photo op, then we were off again to the Spanish Steps. But somehow, we got turned around and instead of coming to the base, we made it to the top! So we clambered down the Steps and took some more pictures.

Back on the move again, we headed to the Trevi fountain. This was probably the most touristy place we visited and absolutely the most jam packed with people! But some of the kids and I still shuffled our way to the fountain and threw in our coin!

After the fountain, we did some random walking and came across some cool sites:

And ended up back at another Alice's Restaurant (excepting Alice!) for a dinner of MORE PIZZA !!

After dinner, and a bit of a rest, we headed out again, this time to St. Peter's Square. We didn't go in, but the kids had fun playing tag before we headed back "home" again.

Go To Next Day
July 28th, 2019

Terme di Saturnia Hot Springs and Rome!

We had another long-ish day ahead of us, and wanted to get an early start, so we checked out of our AirBnB at 8 am, and got on the road.

We were actually only going a couple hours down the road for our first stop of the day, the Terme di Saturnia Hot Springs.

I saw a brief view of the springs from the road and they looked AMAZING! But, when we went on the twisty road, down the hill to the parking, it was height restricted! Boo!!!

I'm really not the best at driving in reverse, and doing so, on a thin road, up a hill with pedestrians and noisy kids, kinda freaks me out... So I backed up to a small drive where I thought I could turn around.

Well.... I did get turned around, and only broke one tail light cover... Sigh.

We drove up the road a ways where there was a sign for van and bus parking. But it was too far for us to walk with the kids since we only had a short time here.

So we turned around again, and headed the other way to some parking on the other side of the springs. But it was ALSO height restricted! Arghh!!

We almost gave up, and honestly, if I hadn't seen them, I would have.

We turned around, again, and I dropped Lauren and the kids off. By this point I was stressed and grumpy, but figured they should have fun, and then I could get a bit of a break.

So I drove back up the van parking. It was actually a caravan site, but allowed for large vehicle parking. And reading the sign, I saw they offered a free van trip to the Springs! What??!! Heck yes!

So I did end up parking there, and they had a trip to the falls set for about 15 mintues later that I took.

These springs were really cool looking and had some amazing falls, that I didn't get a good shot of for fear of dropping my camera in the water.

I would loved to have relaxed here for a while, but we were on a schedule! We swam, floated, played for about an hour, before we headed back up to the van pick up location.

Since it was a caravan park, there were bathrooms, so we all changed our of swimwear and into normal clothes before heading back out on the road again. This time, to Rome!

Lauren had found a parking location outside of the major part of the city, so we drove there, and with a suitcase packed with what we would need for the next several days, the stroller and all the kids, we trudged in the rain, to the metro stop a bit away.

We were able to make it to the Colosseum without much trouble,

But our tickets weren't for about 2 hours, and Lauren had to meet with Silvio, our next AirBnB host. So she had found us a park right next to the Colosseum.... only... it wasn't a park. It was a fenced in, grassy area.

Lauren and Meadow left in an Uber for the AirBnB, and I stayed with the other kids in the "park". It was still drizzling, and there was a homeless man pulling trash out of the bins and throwing it on the ground. We ended up buying some umbrellas from a street vendor, and huddling in the corner of the park. I spent some time trying to find us a better park, but they were a ways away, and eventually decided we'd just head back down to the Colosseum early. But I was honestly, pretty frazzled at this point.

Eventually, Lauren and Meadow did make it back in time for our ticketed time slot and we went in. Yay!

The Colosseum also houses some pretty cool exhibits, in addition to being an exhibit itself.

What a cool part of history for the kids to get to experience!

We eventually left the Colosseum, and headed towards the Forum,

We walked up a hill that Google said should lead us the direction we needed to head. But it was a LIE!! We got to the top, and a wooded gate was closed across the road! Ekk!

Back down the hill we went. Still... walking around Rome is pretty stinkin' amazing!

Evntually, we stopped at Alice's restuarant (Love you, Dad!)for some fast food style pizza. And it was soooooo good!!

After Pizza, we headed around the corner and found a gelato place. Oh What a delicious mess!

After a lot of clean up, we headed our again, to a plaza with a market. Lauren got pressured into buying laser helocopter toys for the kids! Cozy and Autumn posed with a living statue.

I found some art I really liked, and bartered a bit with the artist, and ended up buying two pieces. Thanks Paulini!

Eventually, when the street vendors became just too aggressive, we headed back to our AirBnB for the night.

Go To Next Day
July 27th, 2019

Bagni di San Filippo Hot Springs and Anna Ristorante

After our long, long, LONG! drive yesterday, today was meant to be a really easy day of just going to the Bagni di San Filippo hot springs for a little while and coming back to relax the rest of the day.

However.... their was no wifi, bad cell reception and we never did get the small TV to work at the AirBnB. On the plus side: the hot springs were just super cool!

Our original plan had been to only spend an hour or two at the hot springs, but we spent the majority of the day there. The springs actually feed into a small river/stream and there are a number of different pools. We spent most of the time towards the top, where there were several different temperature pools, (including a cool one). There were small waterfalls, and lots of places to explore.

Including a bunch of tadpoles!

The kids started finding them and collecting them into one or two pools. (Poor tadpoles!)

They also discovered that small child-sized bums fit perfectly to block one of the waterfalls, and they could fill up the pool just behind it and then lift their butt and cause a big rush down the falls.

Eventually, we did have to call it a day and head back. But before we went back to the van, we went down the road a bit further intending to get some gelato. Unfortunately, they didn't take a credit card and the cash was up in the van. So we went across the street to il solco di Mimmo e Barbara and ordered a bunch of open faced sandwiches, which were delicious!

Stuffed and tired, Austin and I trudged up the hill to the van, and drove down to pick everyone else up. Then we headed back to the AirBnB. We chilled out for a while and the kids played some Uno and other games.

Eventually, we did set up the tablet in one of the bedrooms and Lauren and I get ready to go out for the evening.

Lauren had found a Michelin Star restaurant, Anna Ristorante not too far from our AirBnB and had reserved us a table at 8:00 pm, when they opened for dinner.

When we got there, the one waitress who spoke English helped us find a seat and went over the menu. This place was more causal than I expected, but completely lovely.

The waitress, who's name I didn't catch (shame on me!), suggested the sampler first course, which we gladly did. The restaurant is well known for their hazelnut and mushroom soup, so we started with that.

Next, we tried their special lemon and ricotta ravioli, which was probably my favorite part of the meal

Next we had some tagatelli and bolognese, which was rich with just enough spice to give it a kick.

By this point we were stuffed! But, our waitress said we could do a half portion of a second entree, if we'd like, and she had mentioned a braised veal in red wine sauce we both really wanted to try. So we got a half portion to share with grilled veggies. And it was worth it!

And even as stuffed as we were, we still had to get some dessert! This was a Tuscan specialty, but the name escapes me.

Yum!!

Now, when we'd arrived at Anna's, it had just started to rain, but I didn't think much of it. But, when we left, it was a full on Monsoon!! We ran to the van, and I ever so slowly made my way back down some insanely twisty roads, in the dark, in the middle of a torrential down pour. But we lived!

Go To Next Day
July 26th, 2019

(Not Milan) Lots of driving, Ponte dei Salti, sick kids and way too much driving!

Maybe I've mentioned it, but Erich and his partner are amazing hosts! Last night, when we were telling Erich that we needed to be on the road early, he insisted on making us an early breakfast before we headed out! So this morning they did just that.

Another huge thank you to Erich and his parnter for making our stay with them so far beyond our expectations! Y'all are Amazing!

What is slightly less amazing was the heat wave that seems to be hitting Europe at the moment. It's stinkin' HOT! In the US, we're big on our comforts and our homes, cars and stores all seem to be air conditioned. Not so here! When we were looking to buy a van, I searched for a while trying to find a UK van with AC... Not an option! So poor Bertha is much like an oven box. It's HOT inside, even with the windows open. The kids even more so, as the windows in the back are tiny. Sorry kiddos!!

And today was a LOT of driving, so the kids were stuck back there for a long time. We did set of one of the fans that Deborah bought for us in the back, but it was limited in it's reach.

The original plan had been to go to Milan in the middle of our drive. But it was just too hot! And Lauren is amazing, and found us a much better option! A River! So we headed there instead on an amazingly windy road.

The attraction to this location was actually the Pointe dei Salti, aka the Jump Bridge, but parking there was a bit of a struggle. We ended up quite a bit further up river.

At this point, several of the kids had been suffering with a bit of a headache, and, while we had encouraged them to drink sufficient water, keeping them cool was difficult. So we were doubly excited to get them to the water!

Now this water isn't just any water. It's actually glacier run off, so the water is COLD! Like, have-warnings-about-hypothermia-cold! For most of the kids, this did a great job of cooling them down. For Harrison, however, I think the change in temperature was too much for him, and he ended up throwing up! This also made his headache worse. I had him sit in the shade for a bit, but I was worried he wasn't cooling down enough. so I sat with him in my lap on some rocks so he was partly in, partly out of the water. But his head was hurting enough he was crying. Poor guy! It broke my heart! We got him some Tylenol, and tried to keep him sipping on his water.

The other kids seemed to enough the cool down. Meadow was the first to actually swim and got across the river to a rock on the other side. So she became the queen of the river... until the others made it across!

Unfortunately we couldn't stay too long, as we had a total of more than 9 hours of driving to do today. So eventually, we did have to herd the children back to the van.

As we were driving down the road, I was getting more anxious about Harrison, and now Autumn was saying she had a headache too. Lauren looked up heat exhausting, and it definitely seemed to fit, maybe even boardering on heat stroke! I started worrying even more when Harrison threw up a couple more times, and didn't seem to be able to keep the Tylenol or water down well. In my head, I was running through options for hospital trips and how to communicate well what was going on. I was really worried.

One of the signs of heat stroke was a high body temperature, so as soon as we could, we found a grocery store and Lauren took Harrison's temperature while I ran in and got some "vitamin water", juice and popsicles.

Luckily, his body temperature was normal and I think the little bit of Tylenol he was able to keep down finally started to help. He was able to eat a couple popsicles (as did everyone else) and started looking much better! Whew! We made sure everyone had some cold drinks and back on the road we went.

We did stop again a couple hours down the way for dinner at a McDonalds with air conditioning and a play place, which thrilled the kids!

More driving....

And more driving...

And still more!

There were some seriously twisted roads along our way, and this was the first time we've been driving into the evening past sunset.

We did finally make it to our next AirBnB about 10:45 at night, and we were just all exhausted, and pretty much went straight to bed!

Go To Next Day
July 25th, 2019

Jesuitenkirche, Painted Buildings, The Glacier Garden Museum, Chapel Bridge, and Trying to Stay Cool

Our day started at the AirBnB outside of Lucerne. When Lauren had booked this one, the host, Erich, offered to make us dinner and breakfast. As I already mentioned the dinner, we obviously accepted and I'm so glad we did. Erich and his partner did such an amazing job of making us feel welcome. They made us a delicious breakfast with cereal, milk, yogurt, croissants, rolls, sausages, eggs and watermelon. It was so great! And we didn't have to cook or clean up afterwards! The perfect way to start the day.

The only problem was it was already starting to get too warm! I've been living in England for too long apparently, because I simply can not handle the heat any more!

After the Ballenberg Museum yesterday, we were still recovering from the heat and dehydration, but really wanted to see some things around Lucerne. So we headed in to town and parked by the lake.

We walked into town and Lauren had found us an amazing church, the Jesuitenkirche.

To be honest, Lauren did 99.9% of the planning for this trip, and while I did look up everything she suggested we do, it was quite a while ago. This means that each day is filled with constant surprises for me. Now, I might be driving Lauren crazy asking her again and again what we're doing today, but I love (1) that everything is planned out and (2) that I wasn't the one to have to do it all!

(Thanks Lauren! You're AMAZE-BALLS!)

So, yeah, this church was interesting-ish on the outside, but honestly, I was wondering why it was worth a visit. Once we stepped inside, it became super apparent. Really, it's just gorgeous!

Our stay here was pretty short since... kids.... So then we headed up some steep, steep hills to look at the painted buildings. Yet another surprise that I had forgotten about. Lauren does find some of the coolest things!

After the buildings, we headed to the Glacier Garden Museum. Just outside of this is a statue of a lion, carved into the cliffside.

The museum itself is reasonably small, but has some nifty bits. The most obvious one is the holes dug by glaciers and boulders.

The kids walked all around that for a while before we headed inside, and got to feel different temperatures of ice, and check out snowflakes to see if any were the same.

But the kids favorite part was absolutely the Labyrinth of Mirrors! And, honestly, it was mine too!

They took two turns in the Labyrinth before we dragged them out, and took the long walk back towards the van, taking a small detour over the ancient covered bridge, the Kapellbrücke, or Chapel Bridge.

It is one of the oldest wooden bridges in Europe, originally built in 1333. In the roof area, there are a number of very old paintings.

Unfortunately, there was a fire in 1993 that did some serious damage, including 2/3rds of the paintings! What a shame!

After the bridge, we finished walking back to the van, and headed back again to the AirBnB.

I spent some time working while the kids watched TV and tried to stay cool.

Erich, our host, was so kind and offered to make us dinner again! What a nice gesture! So at 8, we went back up to the patio and this time he made hamburgers in addition to the pommes (fries) and delicious sausages.

! After another delicious dinner, we sent the kids to bed early as we had an early morning the next day!
Go To Next Day
July 24th, 2019

Police, Shopping, Ballenberg Open Air Museum, and Dinner at the Lucerne AirBnB

We woke up in our straw beds and eventually got up.

Breakfast was provided and was some lovely bread with butter and homemade jam, local yogurt, cheese and sausage, cereal and milk and some hot cocoa and juice.

Once everyone had eaten and changed, we worked on packing everything up and getting the sleeping bags back in the roof top box.

We were on the road and headed to the grocery store when a police van passed us with it's lights and siren on, telling us to pull over! EEEKKKKKkkk!

We pulled over, and they came out. I was so worried I'd done something wrong, but they had stopped us to let us know the roof top box hadn't been secured and was open! We lost at least one pillow, though we haven't done a complete inventory to see what else might have blown away.

They guided us to the next exit and a gas station, where Austin climbed on the roof and secured the box for us. It just so happened that this exit was exactly where we were headed and the Aldi was across the street. So we stayed there and did our shopping!

I couldn't find the big trolleys, so I grabbed a basket, but it was quickly overflowing, so when Lauren brought Austin in with the other boys for thier treats, I stole him away and had him push a little baby-sized cart. We might have looked a bit silly, but it worked!

We grabbed the groceries, checked out, and went on to the Ballenberg Open Air Museum.

I had grabbed some Zopf bread and some canned "tuna salad" while at Aldi, and we brought that, along with some berries and chips, for lunch.

We did the mandatory toilet break, and I bought our tickets, and we wandered about until we found some benches to sit at for lunch. The tuna salad was a bit unexpected, as it contained peas, corn and carrots on top of some tuna. It was quite good and made a good, but messy, lunch. Good thing we were outside!

After lunch, we went to a barn where there were a number of exhibits about cows, including some HUGE cow bells!

And some one legged milking stools!

Deborah and Tobias and their girls met up with us there. The kids were excited to see each other again. We went to a wood carving demonstration where the kids were able to use tools and some scrap wood to come up with their own creations. I helped Winter make a "tractor". We'll see how long it lasts! We only ended up needing three bandaids by the end of the session! (Deborah had mentioned the Swiss were more willing to allow their kids to take risks, and I definitely saw there here!)

We continued on and saw a number of very cool buildings, with different examples of Swiss architecture and a bit about how things were done in the past on the farm.

We even got to try some delicious soup made over a wood stove with just carrots, potatoes and onions. It was delicious!

I'm always impressed with how much energy the kids have. Even as we were trudging up a hill, the kids would be hopping over pillars and climbing up small cliffs. It's fun to watch.... while I sit and rest!

The day was really quite hot, and we tried to keep the kids hydrated, which was made easier by the ready supply of troughs with a constant flow of fresh water.

We eventually found a small playground right next to a goat hutch with baby pygmy goats. They were so adorable!

While the kids played, Deborah bought us all a popsicle, which was so sweet of her, and hit the spot!

It was getting a bit late, and we headed to the exit. We still had a bit of a drive before we reached our AirBnB of the night. I think it was here we drove through Interlaken, which is simply gorgeous. I'd love to come back some time and spend time around that lake and those mountains!

After our last experience, we were honestly feeling a wee bit leary as we headed to the AirBnb But Erich, our host, made us feel so incredibly welcome! He had set up additional beds in the hallway, so everyone had a bed to sleep in. He had messaged previously and offered to make us dinner and breakfast (for a small additional cost) which we had accepted. So, once we had settled in, we went up a hill to a patio area with a beautiful view. Lauren read us some traditional Swiss fairy tales.

He made us some pasta salad, bread, pomme frites (French fries), and some traditional sausages on the grill. It was all quite delicious! And there was a swing where the kids could play. At the end of the meal, when the kids had gone down to watch TV, he even brought us a bottle of Blue Hugo Prosecco. It was a lovely way to relax and take some time to enjoy the views!

Go To Next Day
July 23rd, 2019

Cheese and Chocolate Museums, The Amazing Trummelback Falls, and Sleeping in the Straw

We tried again for an early-ish start to the day, so we said our farewells to the Schneiders and told them how much we appreciated their hospitality. They're really great people, and we'll get to see them again tomorrow!

We headed on and our first stop was the Cheese Museum! This was quite small, but had a cool audio guide and samples of cheese, so it seemed to go pretty well. It was interesting to see them actually processing the milk with the rennet and soaking the cheeses in the brines.

After the tour, we headed out to the playground and picnic tables and had cheese and crackers for lunch, as well as some chocolates the Schneiders had given us.

Our next stop was the chocolate museum, but apparently I put in the wrong destination and it took me up single lane, twisty-turny, a crazy mountain road! While the views were gorgeous, it was a bit stressful as we had to make a u-turn and head back down the way we came to the right Maison Callier .

Now, I honestly wasn't expecting much from the chocolate factory, aside from some delicious samples, of course. But I was wrong! There was a guided tour through the history of chocolate, from the Aztecs, through the French Revolution and on to the founding of the Callier as one of the first Swiss Chocolatiers. And it was done in a very interactive way, as the group moved through different rooms. (Unfortunately, all the pictures from that were too dark or blurry to be post-able)

Harrison and I had gotten separated from the rest of our group and were included on the next tour, which probably stressed Lauren out a bit more, and meant I got to stress a bit less! Sorry, Lauren!

We did get together as they showed the current process of making chocolates and, of course, the samples!

While we could have stayed here for quite a while (partly because it was cooler, and partly because Cholocate!), we did need to head back to the van. We were headed for one of the things I was really looking forward to on this trip: Truemmelbach falls!

We drove a bit to get there, enjoying some of the amazing Swiss vistas, and after a toilet break, we headed to buy tickets. But at the counter, the lady wouldn't allow children under 4, and was requiring passports to verify the smallest ones' ages! Lauren had seen online that the cut off was 3, but Winter hasn't quite turned 4 yet.

I offered to stay back with both of the littles, and Lauren took the rest with her to see the falls. While I was a bit bummed, Winter and Bowen actually played nicely together while the other kids were gone and it was rather peaceful to sit in the grass by the rushing river and enjoy the relative quiet.

A little bit later, Lauren messaged me to meet her at the entrance, and we'd swap out, so I'd still get to see the falls! Lauren is pretty amaze-balls, for realz!

So, that I did! I met several very damp children at the gate and while Meadow and Moses stayed with Lauren and the littles, I took the other 5 back in with me.

There is an elevator that takes you up a goodly portion of the way, so we took that up as the kids excitedly told me how fun the falls were.

And boy were they right! The falls are... Epic! It's impossible to express how powerful and dangerous and beautiful the falls were. We were able to climb up and into the caverns quite close to this pounding, rushing water. The water comes from glacier melt and is quite cool. I could see my breath once we were back in the mountain.

There are ten falls or cascades, about half of which are inside the mountain. We saw those first, and got pretty soaked (and blessedly cooled!)

As we were leaving the mountain area and headed back to the elevator, the man running it said that this was his last trip as the area was closing. I asked how long the trip down by stairs was, and he said it was only about 5 to 10 minutes, so the kids and I decided to skip the elevator and see the other falls too!

So we did! And I'm quite glad we did. They were also just amazing! Soooo much water! I'm glad we were able to see them in the summer, as in the spring and fall, with less glacier melt, they flow slows to a trickle and in the winter can become completely frozen over.

We did eventually make it down to meet back up with Lauren and the other kids and headed back to the van.

We weren't quite ready to leave the beautiful valley, so instead of heading straight to our next destination we turned the opposite direction and saw several more falls, though none quite as closely!

There kids were about fall-ed out, and we had a bit more driving to do to our next adventure: Sleeping in the straw!

Lauren found us this extra-cool adventure. Apparently, in the summer, since the cows spend their time out in the fields instead of in the barns, some farms and ranches will allow travellers to come and sleep in the hay.

We had a simple dinner on some picnic tables and set up our areas in the hay. We were provided with some heavy wool blankets to lay down over the hay, and we brought our own sleeping bags. After dinner, and getting ready, Lauren read us a bedtime story of Swiss legends.

I think Lauren and my biggest concerns were the fact that we weren't alone in sleeping in the hay! There were two other couples there as well. We tried to keep the kids quiet and get them settled quickly so that they wouldn't keep the others awake.

It sort of worked.... Ish....

Winter was next to me, and though she started out with both a blanket and a sleeping bag, she somehow ended up in the hay itself. And it stuck all over her pull-up! No wonder she couldn't seem to get comfortable!

I was actually pretty surprised with how comfortable the hay was and did eventually get both Winter and myself off to sleep.

Go To Next Day
July 22nd, 2019

A Whole Lot of Driving, a Quarry, and the Schneiders

I woke up early on Monday and tried to get some work done first thing. I knew we had a lot of driving to do and we were planning to leave pretty early. However, everyone was very tired, and I was looking at the time on my computer, which hasn't adjusted to the time difference in France so is an hour behind.

When I realized we were getting a late start, I started waking up kids and packing up the last minute things, like the fridge. Lauren woke up and we started rushing around trying to make sure we cleaned up and got everyone and everything out into the van.

We ended up only being about a half hour later than our planned departure time. Yay us!

But, he hadn't done as thorough a job on check out as we normally do, such as taking out the trash. We started our long drive down to the south east. Along the way, we got a message from the AirBnB expressing how unhappy they were with the state we left the house in. I was honestly shocked! The kids had slept on the couches and some fold out foam beds. We had moved one or two to different rooms, and hadn't gotten everything folded back up and put back in exactly the same rooms. We had washed all of our dishes, but had left a handful of cups out to dry, rather than putting them away. The trash wasn't taken out to the bin. There was also a tiny spot where one of the kids hair had slightly stained one of the white sofas (which I swear WILL come out, with a smidge of scrubbing, as this had also happened at my house, and it came out!)

Over the course of the long drive, Lauren and I discussed it. Lauren had specifically messaged our hosts the night before for check out instructions, and were told we only needed to leave the keys in a particular place, which we did. We weren't told what cleaning must be done, and many of the AirBnBs have a cleaning service that comes in immediately after we leave. We didn't feel that the amount that she was asking to be paid (a strangely precise €108.12, well above a general cleaning fee) was reasonable, so we declined it.

The host came back again and said there was pen and pencil markings on the wall and couple other complaints which didn't fit. The kids never had access to pens and they were never out of the living room with their pencils (which they only used for their journals, and put away immediately.) We feel like she was absolutely looking for complaints to try to charge us for. We again declined to pay, so the dispute will be brought before AirBnB. Hopefully, they will see our previous good reviews from all of the other places we have stayed and will look at the host's reviews (less stellar) and side with us. We'll see!

We continued the drive to the Underground Quarry of Aubigny. This was a smidge out of the way, but with the current heat wave and the long drive, we decided the break was decidedly necessary. And Wow! This was well worth the detour!

The lady at the ticket counter didn't speak English, but after a little trial and error, we were able to buy the right tickets and she gave us the English guide. I wasn't sure how interested the kids would be, but honestly the quarry was quite fantastic. I'll post pictures, but they simply don't convey the scale of the quarry!

It was massive, and, according to the guide, all of the stones were cut using hand tools!

The quarry hasn't been active as such for quite a while, but after being turned into a museum, it's also become a bit of a stone art gallery, showing off some amazingly skilled craftsmen and their work.

It was quite cool down in the quarry, which was a welcome relief from the heat of the day. So we wandered around for quite a while.

All in all, it was a great stop and I'm glad it was a part of the schedule.

After the quarry, we had quite a bit more diving to do as we headed out of France and in to Switzerland. We did get stopped at the boarder, as we'd forgotten to buy the vignette we needed for the toll roads. They also wanted to check all of our passports. The boarder control officer was surprised that we hadn't received any stamps in our passports when we came over from England. In fact, the last stamp we had was when we left England for Ireland! But he didn't seem overly concerned and, after purchasing the vignette and a toilet break, we continued on our way.

That night, we made it to the Schneider's home, where we were welcomed with great hospitality! The Ards and the Schneiders knew each other in Tucson from a foster parenting group. The kids were all able to play while Deborah and her husband, Tobias, set up a traditional Swiss raclette with potatoes and pickled vegetables. It was, honestly, amazing!

Over dinner, Deborah let us know that just about everything was locally sourced. Like... in that specific valley! It's so interesting to see how close people are to their food sources. They know the farmers who supply them with their milk and eggs. The yogurt and cheese are made close to home. It's a lovely way of living that's quite different than our mass-supermarkets and the huge disconnect between where our food is produced and our homes.

Deborah was so kind as to have a story time for the kids in English and French, though I sadly missed it in favour of a much needed shower!

The kids went to bed soon after, but I couldn't sleep until about 2 am! Whhhhhyyyyy!?!?!?

Go To Next Day
July 21st, 2019

An Off Schedule Day

Yesterday was just.... too much. Several of the kids said that while they enjoyed the sights, they weren't in a hurry to do it again.

So we stayed "home". We slept in late, considering we'd stayed up so late the night before. I stayed upstairs and worked for a while, and Lauren got the kids a late breakfast of quiche and watermelon.

Lauren had missed the chateau the morning before, so walked with me to the van and I drove her there before trying to make a trip to the market. But I forgot it was Sunday, and the markets were closed, so I just headed back to the AirBnB.

Because of the heat, we ended up letting the kids stay in, and watch movies most of the day while I tried to catch up a bit between this blog and work.

While I'm sad that we missed several really cool things, I think it was more important to consider our mental well being over just a couple of the many sites we're going to be seeing on this trip.

That evening, Lauren and I fed the kids and then went to an African restaurant, Bois et Braises just up the road. We started with some mixed appetizers

and shared both some chicken

and some lamb.

It was all quite good, though the heat of the day had put a bit of a dent in our appetites.

All in all, it was a quiet, calm day that was much needed after yesterday!

Go To Next Day
July 20th, 2019

Chateau de Champs sur Marne, L'Arc de Triomphe, Parc Monceau, Rue Cler and the Eiffel Tower

We got a bit of a late start, since we'd gotten to bed so late. Lauren got breakfast together of yogurt and granola, which we've swapped out for the overnight oatmeal that the kids didn't really enjoy.

The kids changed clothes, ate breakfast and did journals from the night before (which I'd forgotten). Lauren and I were both a bit short on patience, and all the cool things around the AirBnB were not helping as the kids wanted to touch EVERYTHING! Unlike most of the places we've stayed in that are only used as AirBnbs, this one is someone's home, with all of their art work and their kids toys and LOTS of instruments around that are a huge temptation to the kids. It's hard enough to keep the kids from touching everything when we go out somewhere, but we're having to do that in their "home" as well.

Very close to the AirBnb is the Chateau de Champs sur Marne. Lauren had planned to keep the youngest three home with her, while I took the older kids to visit it. However, Autumn wanted to stay back and "help take care of Winter". I think what she wanted was to watch movies, but what happened is she was put to work! Buahahaha!

The other kids and I drove to the Chateau, which is pretty much just amazing! It was originally built in the 1700s by a financier and has changed hands several times over the years. It was donated to the state and set up as it would have been in the 1930s by the family who lived there.

The rooms are epically proportioned and just plain gorgeous. Throughout the house, there were a number of clothes presented in the rooms. Since everything is in French, I didn't realize that all of these clothes are actually paper replicas of the fashions worn. They really are extraordinary!

They even had a children's dining room!

As usual, my favorites were the bedrooms.

Since I was taking kids through, we kept the visit reasonably short, though I think they were also quite impressed by the rooms. Lily has decided she's going to make a Minecraft version of the Chateau when they go home.

After the house itself, the kids went to play tag in the beautiful gardens. I went and sat, as it was already getting quite warm.

We didn't stay too long, as we had to go shopping as well. So we headed to the Carrefour. This was a "hyper market" and was HUGE! Normally, when I've been doing shopping for this trip, I haven't had to bring the kids along, but it was really to hot for them to stay in the van, so in they came.

I had already written out a list, but shopping in a giant new store and in a different language was a... challenge. Doing it with kids? More so. But, eventually we did make it through the shopping, though I'm sure I could have found cheaper items if I'd been alone or had more time. So the bill was higher here than it has been up til now.

After grocery shopping, we headed back to the AirBnb where we dropped off the groceries and picked up everyone else (and the lunches Lauren had made). We headed to the local RER station, but couldn't find parking, so we tried again at one a little farther away, which had great parking.

We headed in, and though we had discussed this before, there was some misunderstanding on which tickets we needed to use transportation. The cost to go in to Paris is different than to get around in Paris, so we needed two different sets of tickets. Then, the cost of adults is different than children, so we actually needed 4 sets of tickets! Luckily, a very nice lady at the ticket booth helped us get what we needed, and eventaully we headed in to Paris.

Or so we thought!

In fact, the line we were on was under construction, and we had to stop part of the way there, and get out and walk quite a ways to a different line!

We were a bit lost, but we made it and then continued on. Only to get stuck again! It was very confusing as Google maps wasn't updated with the closure information, so we couldn't see a different route, or where and when this one closed! Argh!

Add to this, the fact that we brought the double stroller, which we're having to open and close, and carry up and down stairs all over the place, and two frustrated adults, and it was not a great time!

But, eventually we did make it to the l'Arc de Triomphe! Which, while I've seen it from across the street, I hadn't actually gone over to see. The carvings really are impressive and the scale is something you can only really experience by being right there with it.

After a walk around it (we didn't go up) we headed back to the metro to go to a park, Parc Monceau. Just as we arrived, it started pouring down rain! Luckily, everyone was in the toilets at the time, and the shower was just a short burst which cleared up quickly.

I took the kids to a playground, while Lauren went to try ot check out Musee Cernuschi, which is an Asian art museum. Unfortunately, it was closed! So we sat and watched the kids play for a bit, before heading out again.

One the way out, Lauren got all the kids two rides on the Carousel, which they all seemed to enjoy (even Austin and Harrison!)

We left there and started walking towards a metro, but decided to just walk to our destination of Rue Cler, which is a market street.

By the time we got there, it was pretty late and some of the shops were closed, but we were able to stop at a fruit and veg stand, La Fromagerie for lots of cheeses,

A La Mere de Famille for some interesting sweets,

and La Sablaise, for some seafood dip, where the kids got to touch a blue lobster!

One more stop for some extra bread, and we headed off to the Eiffel Tower

We managed the last of the walk and the kids got to see the Eiffel Tower as we set up a picnic dinner. We ate, and it was delicious!

After dinner, the kids ran and played for a bit, and Lauren took some of them off to the toilet. She had to wait in line for probably 45 minutes! The toilet was free (yay!) but took several minutes to clean between each person, which probably tripled the wait!

Eventually she did make it back and we went over to the playground. By then, I was starting to feel the urge, so I took several kids with me and headed to the toilet expecting a bit of a wait. And a wait we had. We waited through probably 8 or 10 people in front of us, even missing the light show as the lights turned on at the tower, and just as it was our turn, the toilet stopped working... No lights, no power, no nothing! ARGH!!

Just as we gave up and headed back to get Lauren, it started to rain. We ended up quite soaked by the time we made it to the metro! Then we had the fun time of carrying the stroller around again. We made it down to the first platform when I realized

Winter wasn't with us!

Panicked, I run back up the steps and there she was, on the other side of the ticket gates. Luckily, I saw her, and someone helped her to come through, but I was so panicked! What could have happened if I hadn't noticed when I did! They weren't wearing their necklaces with our phone numbers, and she's too little to memorize it (we've had the other kids do so). It would have been so easy for something TERRIBLE to have happened. I was honestly almost in tears for the rest of the night, thinking about it. She, luckily, didn't even seem phased by it. I think I'm scared for life, however!

We did have several more transfers as we tried to make our way back to the van, and the Metros were just jam packed with people! With the stroller and all the kids, there were several times Lauren and I had to split up and one of those, I didn't realize Moses was with her. I just about panicked again! But a quick message and some shouting through the crowds and I found he was with her. Gah! Sooooo Stressful!

Lots of walking, lots of carrying the stroller, and lots of whining and complaining (both from the kids as well as the adults) and we finally made it back to the station we had parked at after midnight.

Well... sort of!

Apparently, we exited on the WRONG side of the station and I couldn't figure out how to go back! So we walked, but because of construction, we had to walk around..... almost a whole MILE around! At 12:30 in the morning! On surprisingly busy streets! With 9 kids who don't understand to stay away from busy streets!!

We did FINALLY make it back to the van, and drove the couple miles home. But the parking in the apartment complex was full, or too tight for me to make it in my extremely tired state of mind. So I dropped Lauren and the kids off, and tried again...and again.... and again!

I just couldn't do it, and I was hurting and tired and frustrated and had a headache and it was all just too much, so I stopped trying there and drove off to try to find a different place to park. Which I finally did, but it was probably a half a mile away! So I had to trudge my grumpy self up the hill for half a mile to get home. It was not the best day.

Go To Next Day
July 19th, 2019

A whole lot of driving, the Cliffs of Dover and the outskirts of Paris

I woke up early on Friday, as per the norm, and got some work accomplished for work before starting working on getting everything ready to leave.

I swept the floors, and wiped down the tables and cleaned the bathroom and picked up the kitchen. Then I packed the coolers and tossed the breakfast burritos in the oven to start warming up. I laid out the clothes on the table, so as the kids started to wake up, I got them changed into their uniforms. Austin had woken up, so he helped me by strapping down the rooftop box as an extra level of security.

Lauren had messaged during the night that she hadn't realized the Cliffs of Dover would require a bit of a hike, and asked if we could leave early, so we tried to get everyone dress, fed and ready to go. After hugs for Daddy, we made it on the road by 8:30. Go us!

Unfortunately, most of today was just spent driving. But, we had changed up the kids movies, so instead of playing out of the van speakers, (which was often WAY too loud in the front), we brought along the sound bar from home. In general, this seemed to work way better as I didn't have to yell to be heard by Lauren.

We made it to the Cliffs of Dover visitor center, which was an English Heritage site (luckily, I'd brought my pass this time). We found a place to park and went to check out the toilets.... I mean... visitor's center. But it was mostly just a restaurant, and we didn't have enough time to make the hike down the cliffs after all, so we just took in the view of the port and the ferries coming in.

We headed back to the van, and to the ferry check in. I've gone with P&O just about every time I cross over to Calais, so this time I was pretty familiar with the process already and it was a relatively quick check in, we sat and waited to board. We made up some meat and cheese sandwiches and passed around the chips while we waited.

In front of us in the queue, we noticed a little red car with a bumper sticker that said Mongol Rally 2019.

After a little google search, we found out it is a rally, where you take a "crap car of 1 liter or less" and do a ridiculous road trip across about a third of the world. In the case of the 2019 trip, they're going from Prague to Ulan Ude, Russia. There is no set route, and they encourage the breakdown of vehicles:

"With a small car or bike, you're more likely to break down so you're more likely to interact with the locals, more likely to get stuck and more likely to have an adventure. The worse the car the greater the adventure. In fact if you find your car is doing better than expected you are probably wise to pour sugar in the petrol tank."

We talked with one of the participants who'd come from Australia for this trip, and it sounds completely epic. They had 4 people (3 guys and a gal) in a tiny little red car with a disco ball in the center. All in all, the trip sounds EPIC, though I may be too old as I prefer a bed to sleep in. But GO TEAM "YURTS FOR SQUIRTS"!

We eventually made our way to the ferry, and made the kids stand at the top until we pulled away so we could get a picture with the White Cliffs of Dover:

After the picture, we went down to the family lounge, which had a corner with crafts and kid toys. The ferry ride was only about 90 minutes, but there is also an hour time change.

We landed in Calais, France and headed out for more driving! It was about 3 more hours before we would make it to our AirBnB, so we ate our croissant sandwiches, carrots, peas and celery along the way. I was surprised at how much warmer France was than England already! Man, one thing I miss in the states is how almost everything has AC, from the vehicles, to the homes, to the shops. Our van is AC-less, as are the majority of the AirBnBs we'll be staying in.

We made it to our AirBnB which was nice, but parking was a bit of a problem. We ended up parking a bit down the road at an apartment complex, as the trees in front of the AirBnB were too low to park under.

I was exhausted from the drive, so the kids and I started a movie. Unfortunately, it was MUCH longer than anticipated, and with the time change, the kids ended up going to bed at about 10:30! Not my best planning! But it was a wee bit cooler, so we were able to get some sleep eventually.

Go To Next Day
July 13th-18th, 2019

The in-between times

We were all so grateful to come home after the UK trip. It was a wonderful trip, but everyone's patience was getting a bit short and tempers were rising. Too much time spent in too close quarters will do that.

We got home late-ish on Friday, and the Allen's were glad to see Dallas/Daddy again. And he might just have been happy to see us too. But it was still time for a reasonably quick bed time after arrival. And man, was it nice to sleep in my own bed!

On Saturday, while I caught up on some work, Lauren emptied out the van. Sooooo much stuff!! And so much LAUNDRY! We started doing laundry then, and I don't think the washer or drier has stopped (expect briefly overnight) since then! But then, it doesn't help that I had recently had my US style washer and dryer swapped out for the UK variety. While many things in the UK are wonderful, their washers and driers are not my favorites. They are generally much smaller and take significantly longer to both wash and dry clothes. (The wash cycle is generally about 2 hours, and the condenser drier takes about 3 hours to get a load dry).

While Lauren and I were working, the kids were able to run amok in the neighborhood. At home, while there were still a lot of people in the house, there was more freedom to go play around at the many parks and playgrounds near by. There are also more games and toys and their personal items. And, honestly, quite a bit more screen time, though we do try to hold off until after dinner.

Since Dallas is missing so much time with the kids, he decided to take the week off work and spend some time with them on Daddy/Child dates. Saturday Autumn and Winter got to go with him. But, shhhhhh, it's a secret what they did!

Most of the rest of the kids did a pretty good job of keeping themselves entertained, and Lauren did an amazing job of getting the van cleared and cleaned! and I started working on cleaning the house as well.

That evening two of my ever so amazing friends from here, Lauren (yes a different Lauren, #UKLauren) and Liz came over to play games and hang out. I LOVE these ladies so much!

Sunday was more laundry, more cleaning, and more playing. We also fit in a Tesco delivery so we could eat (feeding a dozen people at this point still takes some planning!!). Dallas took Lily out for her date to unknown locations, and the rest of the kids played or read or just kept busy. When he got back, I had to head to the commissary for some things I can't get from Tesco.

I had called ahead to the mechanic who did the check up on the van before we left and mentioned I wanted another check up before we head off for several thousands of miles through areas where English isn't the first language with almost a dozen people. He said we could drop the van off Sunday night, and he'd take a look at it on Monday, so Dallas helped me do that.

That evening, I cut both Autumn and Cozy's hair. They had requested pixie cuts, which will be much cooler this summer, and I obliged. Autumn's was supposed to be a bit longer than Cozy's but somehow they turned out pretty similar. Maybe I shouldn't do haircuts when I'm exhausted? Still, They both seem to like them and I think they look stinkin' cute!

Monday was Harrison's birthday, so Dallas took him and Austin out for their date time. That left us car-less, so we spent some more time on work, laundry and general cleaning.

I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen on Monday, as Harrison wanted pancakes with berry sauce and whipped cream for breakfast

and Beef Wellington for dinner,

which I make from scratch, along with a red wine sauce, mashed potatoes and asparagus. It's a bit of a production, but it's soooo delicious, if I do say so myself!

After dinner, we watched a movie, Dallas made hot cocoa and Lauren made cupcakes. And we sang Happy Birthday to my 11 year old. When did he get so big??

Tuesday, Dallas and I took the kids to get their MMR vaccination at the base, and an ice cream after than. Then Lauren and I went to go to Bury St. Edmunds to pick up an order of MORE CLOTHES from ASDA, and try to find swimsuits that fit.

Side note: Swimsuit shopping is depressing!

Tuesday night, Dallas was kind enough to watch the kids while Lauren and I went to #UKLauren's house for more wonderful girl time with Liz, this time sans kids! Have I mentioned how great these ladies are? They are absolutely the reason I've stayed sane overseas.

We ordered Sushi, which my kids love. I had ordered some for them, but also made them something else for dinner. Well, as soon as Austin and Harrison found out that we had ordered sushi (but they didn't know they were getting any), they asked for some. I said it was only for "the Ladies". So Harrison asked, if he wore a bra and heels if he'd get some too. Well, I didn't say no..... A little while later, this came down the stairs!

Lol! They were surprisingly good at walking in my tall, tall heels! Better than me any more. And while all the kids did get some sushi, they got a bit more, just for the laughs!

Wednesday, I got to go on a great date with Dallas. We headed to Cambridge, in part to get some last minute stuff from ASDA (MORE kids clothes for the trip), and part to get to spend some quality time together, which we hadn't had much of a chance to do. After some suggestions from some friends, we decided to go to The Ivy. Online, they offer a lunch deal in conjunction with punting along the river, but for whatever reason, I wasn't able to buy it online. We showed up in person, but apparently that deal is only available online. We decided to eat there anyway and we could always get a punt on our own later.

Now, I had dressed for punting, ie a tank top and shorts because it was quite warm! And apparently, The Ivy is fine dining! Ahh, the fun of being under-dressed! But, it was lunch time, and no one seemed to mind too much except for me, so I just went with it. And the food was sooooo very good!

We shared a starter of tempura prawns with salt and pepper squid. The squid was definitely the best I've ever had, cooked perfectly and the flavour was great.

For mains, Dallas picked the sirloin steak with red wine sauce and chips,

while I had the chicken Milanese with mashed potatoes.

The steak was really nice, though I like my own red wine sauce better (not that I'm biased or anything), and the chips and the accompanying broccoli were both quite good. My chicken was amazing! I've never had it like that before and it was quite delicious. It came with some rocket salad which was a good compliment, but I wish I'd gotten something other than mashed potatoes, as they were a bit bland for the dish. We finished up by sharing some Crème brûlée, which is always good.

After lunch, we headed towards the river, with a small detour through Heffers, a bookshop (which was a lot of fun, and I bought some more books for the trip). We found a punting kiosk, but the wait was a half an hour, so we decided to just take a little walk along the river. I really is a lovely area. After a bit of a walk, we sat and just enjoyed for a bit before heading back to the car, and reality.

While we were gone, Lauren had done a ton of work getting ready for the trip, including packing the rooftop box, and re-sorting the clothes.

Most of Thursday was spent packing up and finalizing getting everything ready, including a Tesco delivery of groceries we'd need for the trip and sorting food out.

We had several bins that we brought along last time that we never even touched. Also, we're not doing any camping this trip (though we will be sleeping in the straw) so we were able to leave the tents and most of the camping suppies behind. We did need to add a suitcase and the giant stroller. But with the roof top box and these changes, we were able to cut down on the amount of stuff in the van substantially from the last trip. Yay for less stuff to keep track of and clean!

Lauren made breakfast burritos and we kept a day's worth of clothes out, and most everything else was ready!

Whew! I think we're all set to hit the road again!

Go To Next Day

Post By Date

August 25th, 2019

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!
August 24th, 2019

The Axiom, Peeing Dogs, Peeing Boys, Lots of Food and the Trip Home
August 23rd, 2019

Windmills, Bookstores, Frites, Playgrounds and Caves in Maastrict
August 22nd, 2019

Landschaftspark, a Wildpark and Dropping Jason Off in Cologne
August 21st, 2019

A Quick Exit, A VW Factory Tour, and Lots of Driving
August 20th, 2019

Berlin: Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag Building, Check Point Charlie, The Berlin Wall and Playing in the Park
August 19th, 2019

Stalag Luft III
August 18th, 2019

Bledny Skaly, A Step Into the Czech Republic and Sleeping at Zbrojna Debra Castle
August 17th, 2019

Lauren in Auschwitz, Park Zasole, Giant Burgers, Sleeping at the Farm
August 16th, 2019

Riana in Auschwitz, Dinner Out Again
August 15th, 2019

Obwarzanek Krakowski Making, 1000 Year Old Cellar Under a McDonalds, St. Mary's Bascillica, Cloth Tower Shopping, and a very Colorful Church and Out to Dinner
August 14th, 2019

Trouble with Parking, a Walk Around (and Around) the Castle, the Dragon's Dens, an Awesome Lunch, a Sold Out Museum, and the Greatest Museum, EVER!
August 13th, 2019

Stuck in the Mud, Zookontackt and Leaving Slovakia (With a Fine)
August 12th, 2019

A Day in the Woods
August 11th, 2019

Driving to Slovakia, Beckov Castle and Cabin in the Woods
August 10th, 2019

A Day on the Danube and the Park in the Water
August 9th, 2019

Lipizzaner Stallions, the Clock Museum, St Stephen's Cathedral and the Catacombs
August 8th, 2019

The Clock Tower and Snails, Kunsthaus Graz: The Modern Art Museum, and the Trip to Vienna
August 7th, 2019

Lake Bled and Vintgar Gorge and a Hostel in Graz
August 6th, 2019

Love locks, the Market, Dumplings, a River Cruise and the Museum of Illusions
August 5th, 2019

A Castle Built in a Cave and Hot Horse Burgers
Aug 4th, 2019

>Time at the Beach!
Aug 3rd, 2019

>Hand-made Amusement Park Rides and Man-Made Caves
Aug 2nd, 2019

Happy Anniversary Riana and Dallas! And Venice
Aug 1st, 2019

A New Tablet, Grocery Shopping and the Pool
July 31st, 2019

The Stolen Tablet and the Last Long Drive
July 30th, 2019

Herculaneum and Pompeii
July 29th, 2019

Campo de Fiori, Pantheon, St. Ignacious, Trevi Fountain, Spainsh Steps, and St. Peter's Basilica<
July 28th, 2019

More Hot Springs and Rome!
July 27th, 2019

Bagni di San Filippo Hot Springs
July 26th, 2019

The Drive from Hell, An Icy River and Sick Children
July 25th, 2019

Jesuitenkirche, Painted Buildings, The Glacier Garden Museum, Chapel Bridge, and Trying to Stay Cool
July 24th, 2019

Police, Shopping, Ballenburg Open Air Museum, and Dinner at the Lucerne AirBnB
July 23rd, 2019

Cheese and Chocolate Museums, The Amazing Trummelback Falls, and Sleeping in the Straw
July 22nd, 2019

A Whole Lot of Driving, a Quarry, and the Schneiders
July 21st, 2019

An Off Schedule Day
July 20th, 2019

Chateau de Champs sur Marne, L'Arc de Triomphe, Parc Monceau, Rue Cler and the Eiffel Tower
July 19th, 2019

A whole lot of driving, the Cliffs of Dover and the outskirts of Paris
July 13th - 18th, 2019

The in-between times

UK and EU Trip

August 25th, 2019

August 24th, 2019

August 23rd, 2019

August 22nd, 2019

August 21st, 2019

August 20th, 2019

August 19th, 2019

August 18, 2019

August 17, 2019

August 16, 2019

August 15, 2019

August 14, 2019

August 13, 2019

August 12, 2019

August 11, 2019

August 10th, 2019

August 9th, 2019

August 8th, 2019

August 7th, 2019

August 6th, 2019

August 5th, 20109

August 4th, 2019

August 3rd, 2019

August 2nd, 2019

August 1, 2019

July 31st, 2019

July 30th, 2019

July 29th, 2019

July 28th, 2019

July 27th, 2019

July 26th, 2019

July 25th, 2019

July 24th, 2019

July 23rd, 2019

July 22nd, 2019

July 21st, 2019

July 20th, 2019

July 19th, 2019

July 13th-18th, 2019