Roma - Day Two

Day two in Rome was filled with just as much adventure, more steps than the previous day and probably more food as well.

After our awesome buffet breakfast we decided that we needed to try to see the inside of the Colosseum even if it would be more difficult than usual.  The huge Italian bike race Giro De Italia was taking place with apparently several laps around the Colosseum.  But while in Rome one must make every effort to see everything you can.  And trust me, there is a LOT to see.

We decided to buy hop on hop off bus tickets.  Party because it was so hot we figured it would be nice to be in the top deck with no roof and the wind blowing.  When we went to inquire about the tickets we realized that the prices were significantly reduced because for part of the day part of the route would be out of service due to the bike race.    About 2 stops in on the bus tour Benjamin gets a terrible stomachache and says he is going to throw up.  We all get off, buy his some sparkling water and wait it out in the shade.  After a bit he says he is fine so we board another bus.  Just a couple more

stops in and he says he feels sick again.. off the bus again and now a couple of hours have passed in our precious last day in Rome.  We sit it out, we find a rare public toilet, afterward he says he feels better and we are back on another bus.  Eventually we end up at the Colosseum and buy tickets to go inside. 

We use the Rick Steves downloadable audio guides to go through.  Afterward Marty decides to continue on to the Forum.  The kids are a bit overdone with walking and touring so we wait for Marty and watch the Italian bike race or components of it anyway.

Afterward we see a few more fountains and go inside a few more churches.  We ended up stopping for another great Italian meal and finish our day with more gelato. 

Blooming Jasmine flowers were everywhere.  It is
really hard to bee the sweet sweet smell of this flower. 

Roma - Day One

We woke up remarkably refreshed after our first night in Rome.  Normally the first night of vacation I don't sleep at all.  I guess all of these short weekend trips have broken me down.  Speaking of short weekend trips, these convenient little weekends away are really pretty remarkable.  We paid under 50 Euro per person round trip for out tickets... which is probably less than what we would have paid for RT Amtrak train tickets to Portland for the weekend.  Plus, the fact that there had been so

many holidays during the previous weekends in May allowed us not only cheaper travel but less crowded.  JFK gets American holidays off as well as German ones and since Marty does as well we have realized this is our best bet to travel.  Cheaper and less crowded is the way to go.
We were all excited that this hotel in Rome included a buffet breakfast.  The spreads at breakfast were always a highlight when we would visit Germany for the summer.  We have missed that

by living here.  So we were excited to try this one out and were taken by the amazing view of the Vatican while we ate our delicious breakfast.  Honestly, I booked the hotel based on the reviews of the breakfast alone. And it did live up to its high marks.  The hotel itself was just OK, totally fine but nothing special.  It was a bit like in the basement but it was fine.  I'm not as picky as Marty is about hotel rooms.  We got a significantly cheaper rate staying at this "Sister hotel" and just going to the main hotel for the breakfast. 

After breakfast we joined up with one of the "Free Walking Tours" which took us around parts of the city, including the Pentagon and ending at the Vatican.  By the end the kids were hot and tired and in need of a bit of a siesta.  So we headed back to the hotel for a bit of down time. 

Afterward we headed out again to see the Colosseum only to arrive just minutes after they shut down the tickets for the day.  We took pics of the outside in the glow of the evening sun and then ventured over to the Trevi Fountain and a bit more exploring before eating a fabulous dinner of caprese salad, gnocchi and pizza.  It was as delicious as Italian food should be in Italy and put our first night's dinner to shame.  We ended the night with Gelato and then headed to bed exhausted after a 20,000+ step day. 

Field Trips

 Field trips here still amaze us.  They often head off into various parts of the big city and normally they go on public transportation and often we don't even know about the field trip until after it has happened.  What a HUGE difference from how school trips were handled in Seattle with several permission slips and payment due

reminders.  Most field trips so far have been free, including transportation.  Crazy.
A couple of days prior to Josie's latest field trip we got an email about it.  I probably wouldn't have even paid much attention to the email if it hadn't been for the fact that we were needing to pick Josie up a couple of hours early from school for our trip to Rome that day. 
So I asked the teacher if we could pick Josie up early from the field trip or if they were taking public transportation if we could just

meet her at a train station enroute on their return trip to school.  All of this was completely fine.  It is really no big deal just to leave a student at a train station or allow them to get home after a field trip (even if it is before school is technically over for the day) by themselves.

Actually on all of their field trips the only thing we have ever had to sign for is if your child is allowed to leave the field trip and make their way home on their own. 
The teacher who was leading this field trip was cool letting Josie hop off the train at a given spot.  But then he mentioned that he could use another chaperone or two.  He had just planned this field trip a couple of days before (another amazing thing!!  What teacher has EVER planned a field trip just a couple of days

before?!?!)  Because we were flying out to Rome that afternoon Marty had already taken the day off of work so he volunteered to be one of the chaperones.  First time for him chaperoning...
The field trip was to a cool exhibit called Makers Faire - A festival of Invention, Creativity and Resourcefulness.  Marty was assigned a small group of students that included Josie.  They both had a great time and Josie was THRILLED that her dad was able to join.  I foresee this changing.  Not necessarily with Marty but with both of us. 

I have a feeling that having your parents around in a few years will lose its charm so I'm happy we are both able to soak it up while we can.
I had to pick Benjamin up at school at 1PM with our two backpacks for our Rome trip.  We unloaded his heavier school things and then we were off.  We rode the bus to the zoo which is where we had planned to meet Marty and Josie who were making their way to us from the field trip from a completely

different part of town.  We arrived nearly at the same time, ate a quick lunch together and then all hopped on a bus to take us to the airport.
Within a few hours we had landed in Rome, we only had our backpacks so didn't have to wait for luggage and within minutes were out at the buses.  It was a type of a shuttle bus that I knew would drop us off in the rough vicinity of our hotel but I didn't really know exactly where it would drop us.  It turned out to be just minutes from our hotel. 

Score.  We checked in and dropped our bags and then headed out to grab a quick dinner.  Unfortunately, the dinner was just mediocre.  I didn't know food could be mediocre in Italy.  Disappointing for sure but we ended it with some delicious gelato ice cream then headed back and crashed for the night.

Birthday Party at the Lake and School Art Walk

The kids were invited to a birthday party at Lake Schlachtensee.  We all rode our bikes from school to the sbahn station.  Rode the train for two stops and then everyone jumped in the lake... a couple of paddle boards were rented and the kids were in Heaven!!  Happy birthday, Leopold! 

After the party we hopped back on the train and pedaled back to school for the school art walk.  It is funny because the art walk at Fairmount Park (the kids school in Seattle) was always a highlight of the year.  I
Josie was in a "NO PHOTOS" mood but Benjamin was quite proud of his artwork.

remember as we were getting ready to leave on our big adventure last year thinking that we probably wouldn't have cool things like art walks in Germany... but lo and behold they have them here too. 

Art really is emphasized here almost more than it is in Seattle.  At Fairmount Park the kids had a FABULOUS art teacher who did amazing things with the kids.  But there was only so much time dedicated to art time.  Here it seems to be much more, especially for Benjamin. 

Mauer Weg

With the kids back in school (for a whopping 3 days this week!) Marty and I took the opportunity to go on a long-ish bike ride along the "Mauer Weg" This is a very cool bike/walking path in the same place where the old Berlin wall was.  The city obviously had the right to the land where the wall stood and so they created this amazing bike path and it runs just minutes from our front door.

 We rode about 8 miles to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant and since it was quite warm we treated ourselves to an afternoon beer!
Cheers!  Then rode the 8 miles back.  Such a fun way to spend a sunny afternoon in Berlin before Marty's radio show and school pick up.

Two More Holidays

I told you... there are SO many May holidays here.  Monday the 21st and Tuesday the 22nd were both holidays and days off of school for the kids. Monday was Pentecost and Tuesday.. well, I don't know why they had that off.  Just another "Bridge holiday"  Not sure what it bridged other than making it another 4 day weekend and 3 days school week. 
Nevertheless, we all enjoyed a slower pace to our days.  We went swimming at a public pool with friends... have I mentioned it has been HOT here.  Really, summer like weather since the beginning of August.   We also met up with friends at a park on Monday evening.  It is called "Wine Park" and it is a beautiful plaza style park that reminded me a lot of the typical Zócalo you see in Mexico where people come out

around dinner time and stroll around the plaza.  There is a wine bar and most just bring picnics and enjoy hanging out with others outside on a beautiful summer/spring evening. It was nice.
On the way home Josie jumped off the train a couple stops into our journey to meet a friend for a sleep over.  I am often reminded but probably do not appreciate it enough how cool this experience living here is for all of us.  As I watched Josie, an 11 year old, confidently give me a kiss and hop off a metro train in Berlin and navigate her way through the train stop to her friends house who lives within a few blocks of the stop all by herself with self assurance and grace I feel a sense of immense pride and joy.  I'm so thankful we are all learning big life skills here.

Thai Park.. Again

When you have something this good, and this convenient, and this economical and it is nearly right in your back yard, well... you make a return trip as quickly as humanely possible.
Josie was the instigator for this trip.  She asked to go and she was all about walking through each and every row and finding new and fun things to try.
I didn't think I'd have children that would would love to eat this kind of food as much as I do but she does!!  Makes me so happy that she is getting more and more adventurous with food.

This time we ate:
Papaya Salad (x2)
Pad Thai
Chicken Satay (x3)
Dumplings/potstickers
Humbao
Fried Banana
Fried Banana/coconut doughnut thing
Mango Sticky Rice
2 Cups of sliced, ripe mango
and a Mango Lassi all for under 30 Euro!! YUM YUM YUM!!

Some card playing in the park

Josie and Marty chilling in the park post food while our stomachs work on digesting all that food.