Bellagio and Lake Como

As we near the end of August, we are seeing more and more shops closed for the remainder of the month. Hair salons, coffee shops, even pharmacies... all closed. Even the church we want to visit is closed for the month, since the American pastor is on holiday back in the States. It's pretty crazy.

We took a small vacation ourselves over a long weekend, and headed just north of Milan to Lake Como, and a town called Bellagio. It sits right on Lake Como with water surrounding three sides. Lake Como is a skinny, but very long lake, so it's popular to take short ferry rides across the water to visit the various villas and towns. We were able to see three different towns, during our stay; Bellagio, Menaggio and Varenna.

The following pictures are mostly of the villas we toured.

A view of Bellagio from the ferry.

And our quaint hotel.

And yummy food!

First Experiences in Milan

An update after the first 1.5 weeks in Milan...

I am sitting in a coffee bar as I type this. The internet at our temporary apartment is horrible. So Richard is watching the kids as sit here sipping my cappuccino and using the wifi. Thanks Richard! After 1.5 weeks in Milan, I want to give an update on how we are and what we think of Milan so far.

Flight and arrival:
We took a night flight here and flew business class, courtesy of the company. It was my first time, and I felt like a kid in a candy shop. Gabriel and I sat next to each other and played with the buttons for the first half hour. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone sitting near us, as we made our chairs go up and down all the way and opened all the compartments.

We flew on Lufthansa and they were so nice to the kids. Each kid got an age-appropriate toy to entertain them. However, it wasn't long before we all settled down to sleep for the remainder of the flight. Hope had her own seat, but she ended up snuggling up with daddy. So cute.

 

Temporary apartment:
Our temporary place is near the center of the city and we often walk to the metro to get places. We ended up getting an unlimited pass for August. This gives us access to the metro and all trams. Tram #19 drops you off right in front of our place.

Here I am with Gabriel upon arrival as we wait to meet our landlord. The location is decent, but we continue to struggle with internet access as well as a leak under the kitchen sink. Hopefully those get fixed quickly.

Coffee:
Bars are popular here. But they're not like American bars. Here, there are coffee bars everywhere, and Italians love to get an espresso and relax mid-day or after work. Our apartment came with this coffee maker called a Moka pot. The landlord laughed when I asked him how to use it. You put water in the bottom half, and a metal filter sits in it which holds the coffee. Place it on the stove, and the water boils up through the coffee and into the top part. Pretty neat! I bought American coffee originally, but after getting some flack from friends, I plan to try the Italian grinds next.

Fashion:
Women here seem to rarely wear pants/shorts. It's much more common for women to wear skirts/dresses. When they do wear pants, the pajama pants are really popular right now. I noticed them slowly coming into style in America, but here it's very common. They look something like this.

And the shoes..... Oh the shoes! They do have good taste in shoes here, but most of the shops sell them for around €100 minimum! That's about $135! I'm hoping I can find some more reasonably priced stores.

Children:
I get looks and questions often from people surprised to see I have more than one child, and they all seem to think I'm so young too. I can see why people living in the city would want to only have one child. It's difficult to get around with kids here. They also seem to have kids later in life. So I'm definitely a rarity. Even though the Milanese don't have many children, most of them love kids. I can't tell you how many times someone has reached out to rub Gabriel's hair or touch his cheeks. It seems to be perfectly ok to touch someone's kids. He was confused at first, but now he likes it. He gives a cute smile and says "ciao!", knowing they will get a kick out of hearing him speak Italian. Most restaurants also make sure to feed the kids first or at least give them some bread to nibble on. So it seems to be a kid-friendly place.

Holidays:
It's now August, and most of the city is closing down as everyone goes on holiday. This is a tradition, since usually August is so hot. Most Italians head to the beach or some other fun place. When they're gone, the city turns into a gost town. Shops and restaurants are closed for the month, and the streets are less busy. We were planning to visit the French Riviera in August for some relaxing beach time, but after seeing the prices during this peak season we have decided to wait until later. We do have a two-day trip planned to Belaggio, which is the town which the famous hotel in Las Vegas is named after. It's just north of us and located on a lake with picturesque scenery. I'm very excited to start traveling!

Gelato:
Gelato here is considered a snack, not a dessert. So it has become a common activity for us to meet Richard after work at the local gelato place and then walk him home. And it's so tasty! Each gelato shop, which can be found on most streets, carries a variety of flavors. I want to taste them all, but I sure do like the Nutella flavor!

Things I Don't Like:
1. Stinky people - I'm not sure if it's all Italians who don't shower often, or just a few, but I almost always smell someone while I'm out and about. Yuck!
2. Dog poo on the sidewalk - So we're in the city, and there's not a lot of grass. I get it. But at least pick up after your dog! So gross.

Overall, we are very much enjoying it here!

Until next time... Ciao!

Hope is Walking! (Finally!)

16.5 months is officially how long it took her to walk. I was very eager for her to get going by the end, because I was tired of bending over to hold her hand wherever we went. Here is my home-made movie of her walking. It's the first time I've even done a movie before, so don't have high expectations.



In other updates, Hope is also finally starting to enjoy reading. She used to sit for short periods of time to listen to a book, but only if she was the only child on your lap. If big brother was around, forget it. Now, she pulls books off the shelf and brings them to me saying "weeeeed it!" (read it!).

One of my favorite new things is playing with Hope before I get her up in the morning. When I walk in the room, she pretends to be asleep. So I tickle her and she giggles. We go on playing as she's rolling around the crib and giggling. It's so cute!

Easter 2014

I love Easter. It's such an important holiday to Christians. We love dressing up and heading to church and singing great songs about the resurrection of Jesus. We would normally get together with friends as well, but since Hope has a little cold we kept it low key. We did, however, still die eggs and do a small Easter egg hunt in front of the house.

NYC Weekend

Since we are moving so soon, we tried to cram in a little trip to New York City. I told Richard I would cry if I never got to see the Statue of Liberty the whole time we lived here. Isn't that how it goes? You live somewhere for a long time and still never get around to some of the most popular destination in the area. We have actually done quite a few. The only two things we didn't get to do are a bit further away. They are Niagara Falls and Boston. And those are worth a trip with the kids later on. So I won't cry over them.

For our NYC trip, we drove in late Friday night, and saw the Statue of Liberty via the Staten Island Ferry. I got a great tip that you actually get a much better view and photo opp of the statue via this free ferry. It was a nice 25 minute ride, and we saw the statue on the way there and back. However, squirmy kids and poor lighting (it was after dark) made for lousy pictures. So instead of trying to get the perfect shot, we just hung out at the railing of the ferry and enjoyed our view.

The next morning, we made our way to Central Park. Gabriel enjoyed climbing some rocks and we all had fun on the carousel. Gabriel had double the fun, since he got to go twice!

We then soaked in the sun on a bench in the park and ate some amazing sandwiches made by a local shop. The shop also had a window to order espresso and to-go sandwiches. I tried an espresso since we're moving to Italy. Nope. Not good. I'll stick with my drip coffee. But I did love this cute sign they had out front. "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free kitten."

After lunch we finished our trip with a visit to the Swedish Cottage right in the middle of Central Park. The cottage was actually built in Sweden in 1875, and placed in Central Park in 1877. It has since served many purposes, including being used as headquarters for the Civil Defense during World War 2. The cottage is currently the home of Marionette Theater. They write their own plays and make they're own puppets, which makes for a truly unique show. Both kids were entranced by the performance of "Bessy's Big Shot", a story about a cow who tries to join the circus. Very cute!

I'm so glad we were able to squeeze in this fun trip! Now Richard doesn't have to hear me cry about missing out.

Ci stiamo muovendo per l'Italia

We are moving to Italy!

Richard's job is taking us on a great adventure. The tentative schedule is to leave in June and go to Milan, Italy for 18 months, then Antwerp, Belgium for another 18 months. I am looking forward to lots of gelato and pasta! And Richard tells me Belgium is the diamond and chocolate capital of the world. Count me in!

The kids passports just came in, so I suppose we will take them with us ;) At least Gabriel knows how to say "ciao!"

Viewing The Cherry Blossoms

It was a beautiful day!