Welcome to Italy!

As you might know, we are in Italy right now, specifically Venice. Tomorrow (Italy time) we are going to go to the cinque terre, where we will spend 2 nights. 

Venice has been a lot of fun, especially exploring around the great "floating city." Due to the bienalle, there were many small national exhibits, including a Azerbijanian, a few global warming exhibits, a Portuguese exhibit, and some others. After visiting these, we went to the doge's palace, where we spent a good hour roaming about. After that, we me ambled around the city for a little while before going to have dinner at a small pizza place, that had very good food.

Venice

Found this super cool thing in a little art gallery that was really cool. This one wasn't so big so I didn't hate it. I really don't get how it looks like that, it's crazy. There were few more but this one was the best. 

These are some stares at the doges's palace.The palace was amazing. Nothing was in the rooms they were all empty except for the ceiling. The ceiling was amazing; it had a bunch of panting that had lots and lots and lots of gold leaf decorations next to it. 

In one of the rooms there was like an armory. It was full of swords, helmets spears and even guns at the end of it. The guns were so bad. They had a bunch of noby stuff that was terrible. 

Mona Lisa

Here is the daddy in front of the Mona Lisa.  Fritz And Suzie are off to the side also but let's just focus on the daddy. Today was so boring we had to go to some museums and I hate them. At the Louvre we walked by everything else except that painting up there. One thing that I suggest is that you go to modern art museums because art with Napoleon and stuff from the Renaissance  uh ugh that stuff is booooorrrriiiiiimnnnggggg. 

By Fritz!!!!!!!!!!!

Touristing

Being a good tourist is EXHAUSTING!! 

One must pace ones self. We were in bed at 9:30 last night and slept till 7. Boys still asleep .......

And I should have trained for this. Seriously this requires stamina. Will our shoes survive walking a minimum of 4 miles a day. 

When the kid ( you can guess which one) complains about seeing another museum - ignore. When he takes photos inside said museum, quietly smile. 

Paris has the best window shopping. Period.

Summer has not arrived in Europe. 

People in Paris are WAY friendlier than they used to be. 

A Busy Day in Paris

Tuesday wiped us all out as we tried to soak it all in. We started with an early line-up to see the catacombs: 

We got there 1/2 before opening & still waited. However, it was worth it - lots of fascinating sights below ground:

Karl at the carvings. 

After a short break for lunch, we met an old friend for an afternoon of playing at the Luxembourg Gardens:

We ate a quick dinner (bought from the charcuterie & boulangerie down the street from our apartment) & caught a night bike your through the city. Some amazing action as we took over Blvd. St. Germain & rode through the louvre courtyard at twilight:

We finished with night time boat ride on the Seine to catch the Eifel Tower light show from the water. A midnight taxi ride through the quiet streets & we were all in bed entirely done in. 

Catacombs

NToday in the morning we went to the catacombs to. It was super creepy but at the same time really interesting to walk through the tunnels. When we were looking at the bones it was just a wall of them that is like 5 feet high.  The worst part about it was the 2 hour wait to get inside but everything was just dandy.   By Fritz

Welcome to France!

Hello, and we are now writing from Paris, France. Last night, we went to the Eiffel Tower, where we had dinner. Sadly, we did not have dinner at the restaurant at the Eiffel Tower, but we made our own from some food we snagged on the way to the tower.

 It was raining at the tower, which was convenient because the lines were short, but inconvenient because it was cold and wet and windy at the top. Even through the rain the tower was still beautiful.  

Now onto today. We stated with a trip to Notre Dame, where we went on a Rick Steve's audio tour using iPods and iPhones. Notre Dame was a lot of fun and was very interesting.

 

After walking around Paris fora little while longer we went to the Blanche metro stop, where we went on a guided tour through the Montmartre/Sacre Coure area of Paris.  

After that we had dinner at a small restaurant where they delayed our check for 10 extra minutes, before coming back to our little apartment where I am now. See you guys all later!

Here's Fritz at the top of the Eiffel Tower:

In front of Notre Dame cathedral:

Statue of St. Denis; patrons saint of Paris:

Basilica de Sacre Couer:

Three days in Woodstock, Cotswolds and rural England

Oxford St John College

   My cousin Jane and her husband Chris have lived near Oxford for many years. They've just moved from a small village to a new home in Woodstock England, home to Bleinheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill. They SO very graciously hosted us for three nights unpacking my grandfather Elwell Palmer 's bed and grandmother's wicker rocker before paintings were even hung on the walls. Chris gave Bill directions to the Whitehorse - Iron Age chalk drawing,  

Ridgeway trail, Wayland Smithy, Avebury - smaller stones, but like Stonhendge, less crowded - That is unless you travel on the solstice in which case you will see Druids and drunken Brits all over the magical stones.  Amazing job driving Bill. 

The day finished with a fun Cotswold pub complete with Steak pie for Karl and fish and chips for the other two boys. I had some GF Meal not worth remembering. 

    Next day was rugby on the Telly, Bleinheim walk and tour for Suzie, Glimpton fete (small village owned by a Saudi Prince where we had tea, guessed the weight of the bull, Tomboled, and had a merry time with the locals.).   Below are Fritz's winnings from the Tombola - cheap gambling and hilarious fun.  Yes, winnings included wine and scotch!

Back to Woodstock for their Carnival, parade and yummy Indian dinner.  Such a good three days. Thanks Jane and Chris. 

British Library

At St. Pancras, while waiting for our train, we went to the British library. There, we saw the Magna Carta and a Gutenberg bible. Karl and Fritz with a pile of books. 

Judge Suzie

The mom is a judge. Not really sure how that happend. It's not really her best look.  By Fritz

Rural England

After the hustle & bustle of London, we got to Woodstock with Suzie's cousin Jane & husband Chris for a slice of rural England. We had a great day of seeing the White Horse & the Cotswalds. We also got to see the Avebury standing stones on the solstice. The Druids were sleeping off their late night/early morning, but they were certainly in evidence. We're looking forward to watching the England/Australia rugby match & a visit to Blenheim Palace

Leaving London

We've had a great time in London. The flat, in Camden was wonderful & the city was an amazing experience. Here are some photos of the flat:

Day 4

Hello everyone! Today we went to the British museum and visited Hyde park and speakers corner. Sadly, at speakers corner there was no speaker speaking there, so instead we hung around in Hyde park having fun. Then we came back to the flat, where I am now, writing this.   By Karl

This is Suzie to add to the brevity of Karl's contribution above .....he had some Dr. Who to watch. Yes, just like home, you can get Netflix in Europe - making you feel not so far away. 

Can I just say the British museum rocked my world. The gift of time, maturity and perspective changes how you see things. I was not as impressed with the British museum (Elgin marbles, Egyptian antiquities, Rosetta Stone, Captain Cook artifacts etc) when I lived here 30 years ago.  This visit had me in awe. Anyone of the items would be a stand alone object in a Portland museum. Here they are one of many.  Just thrilling.  

The picnic lunch outside the museum in front of a class of school kids in uniforms was fun too.  Kids are kids whatever country - impatient teachers too. :)

St. Paul's

I am struck by how much more international this city has become since I lived here in '84. You're just as likely to hear French, Spanish, Farsi or whatever as you are English - with a British accent. People from everywhere else are our servers, clerks and bar maids. I suspect the natives no longer live in London. 

Today was a visit to St. Paul's. the Tate modern and Spitafields market. Off to the Theatre tonight. Chilling at the flat now. 

Bike riding

At our last stop of the day Saint Paul Cathedral. This place is huge. 

Making a stop at good old Benjamin Franklins house. This was his house when he was in London and wasn't into American politics. 

The next thing that we did was go down to west minster abbey. A photo o the whole family. 

Just riding by Big Ben on our journey through the city.  

Big Ben in the Rain

Lots of walking

In order to keep the boys awake we kept them walking and walking and walking - from Tottenham Court road down Oxford,  Covent Garden to Trafalger square, then Westminster tube to Regents park back to our very cute flat in North London. We all got back and collapsed.  Every time we ride the Tube the train lulls us to sleep. Will be an early night .......

Travel Day

A quick stopover in San Francisco, followed by a long flight, leading to two very tired boys on their first tube ride.