firenze

::overlooking the Arno with the Ponte Vecchio in the background

::lovers locks on the bridge railing

::girls on the Ponte Vecchio

::in front of the baptistry

::the duomo and campanile

::view from the Campinile

::at the Pitti Palace

::waiting for the bathroom

::city walls

::door knockers

::the pig fountain market

venezia

::on the Rialto Bridge

::riding the Vaporetto

::snowing!

::love the striped posts!

::enjoying the pigeons

::getting ready to run some pigeons down!

::St. Mark's Square

::gondolas!

::pink house ~~ LOVE the windows

en vacance

Hmmm.  I haven't written for a while.  Oh yes!  We dashed over to Italy for a jiffy.  We had a whirlwind trip full of ups and downs.  The most shocking bit came at the beginning when we crossed the border and realized for the first time that our GPS is only for France and we hadn't brought any maps nor had any other method to find where we were going!  We are so dependent!  The first afternoon and one other morning consumed several hours trying to find a SD card for Italy, but to no avail.  We found one Renault dealership that would sell us one out of a new vehicle for 160 euros, but I was quite confident that we were intelligent enough to find our way in the same manner that millions of people have done for years.  I have since begun to doubt that.  In our defense, Italian road signs are terribly confusing ~~ full of inessential information whilst lacking the essential (like where WE needed to go).   We had lost our dearest and most helpful companion and were sadly left to our own incompetent devices.  This, of course, made the trip far more interesting, seeing back alleys not meant for visitors and seeing other sites twice, thrice, or even more times as we drove in circles and zig zags.  Another surprise that awaited us near the frontier of Italy was snow -- and lots of it!  We wound through the mountains of northern Italy with Ferrari's whizzing past on one side and large trucks lumbering along the other.

The weather cleared up as we approached Venice, but the one day we had there dawned dark and drear.  We huddled at the bus stop for 30 minutes, took the water bus into town, arrived at St. Mark's square and lo and behold it started snowing again!  I asked a Venetian how often it snows in Venice and she replied, "Not often."  I looked it up and it (wikipedia) said that it isn't supposed to snow there on the coast.  I mean, honestly!  (We ran into lots of Brits at each tourist stop saying, "I mean honestly!" over and over  as they complained about their spaghetti and whatnot so it has now become our family motto).  We froze as we toured the drafty Doges Palace and other sites, warming up only as we were snookered over lunch.  Then some more wind whipped walking, but the kids were great not complaining and just enjoying.  We even all sat outside on the water bus as we left the city so that we could enjoy our last views of Venice unencumbered by the windows.  One thing about traveling in January, (besides the unpredictable weather), that I hadn't considered, is how early it gets dark!  This plagued us at each of our destinations.  At any rate, we loved Venezia!

The next day as we drove to Florence it was sunny and clear.  A beautiful way to see Tuscany and Umbria, leaving us with high hopes for the rest of the week.  The mountains just past Bologna (baloney!) were covered with fluffy snow and it was so lovely.  We had hoped to go to a museum or something in the afternoon, but it took us so long to find our hotel that we had to settle for some evening strolls.  Our one full day in Florence was gray and freezing again, but a lot of it was spent inside and the lively city kept us warm.  The kids made it through all of the Uffizi gallery and walked to the top of the Duomo bell tower.  They loved looking in all of the shops and we even saw a marble statue and column workshop with people carving away.  We loved Firenze!

The next day as we drove to Roma was sunny and clear with an amazing side trip to Tivoli (once we found it) and the fountains there.  We all decided that we would be quite content to settle there permanently.  In the gardens.  We had hoped to go to a museum or something in the afternoon, but it took us so long to find our hotel that we had to settle for seeing some things at night.  Our one full day in Rome dawned gray and freezing -- Wait!  Am I repeating myself?  Why yes I am!  Every travel day was sunny and beautiful and every tour day was dark and horrible.  And every hotel was relentless in being cryptic and hidden.  Oh well.  So in Rome it rained and it rained and then it poured and then it stopped for a moment and then it rained some more.  A lot of things in Roma are outside so that it makes it really nice.  It brought back warm and fuzzy memories of my one other visit to the Roman ruins almost 20 years ago, trudging through the mud and seeing everything within the frame of a green umbrella.  Poor baby's feet got very wet and never could really warm up the rest of the day, even being wrapped up in the "real pashmina wool from India with the label 100% cotton on it" scarf bought on the street.  We walked a lot and enjoyed the plazas, fountains, churches in every possible nook and cranny, the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, with the coliseum and Trevi fountain being the favorites.  We loved Roma!

The day we left I wanted to stop at a little town on the way home, but after not finding it and driving all sorts of different directions for 2 to 3 hours, we gave up.  Then having two different people give us change for 10 euros when we gave them 20 euros and them insisting that we were wrong just left a bad taste in my mouth for Italy.  I know that it could have been worse with someone brandishing a gun and stealing everything we had, but still!  We are trying to be so careful, only eating bread and cheese and then just losing money like that....  Most people were very nice.  The last stop was in Pisa with two hours extra for finding and exiting and a desperate stop at McDo's for a bathroom (with a seat!) and a snack.

A beautiful drive along the coast with the full moon reflecting on the Mediterranean and every village with their church and campanile lit up for us to enjoy wrapped up our journey.  It was definitely an adventure.  Pictures soon.

I forgot how cold our house is.  And it was certainly pleasant taking warm showers.

whiffs of Grasse

We visited the perfume capital of the world last weekend.  It was a very fun and interesting field trip.
::the scents are diffused through what look like huge coffee filters

::taking a big whiff!

::listening to interesting factoids about perfume history

::a fountain of perfumed water -- Phin tried to drink it!

::exploring the picturesque town

serendipity

THE most amazing thing happened this morning!  There is an outdoor market a few times a week just down the street from us.  There are people selling everything from clothes to jewelry, from olives to pasta, from vegetables to books.  I always like to browse through the books, but knowing myself (and the French books languishing on my shelf at home) I have decided that I won't buy any books that are written in French and I don't care how pretty they are, okay?  Today I was glancing at the tables full of books, hundreds of gorgeous books, and there was one lonely box labelled, "Livres en anglais."  There were about eight in the box.  I flipped through them and out of the eight there were THE two books that Ella needs for her English class -- Julius Caesar, and Lord of the Flies.  What are the chances of that????  Are you impressed and astonished?  No one around here is.
:: My fancy new watch.  5 euros isn't bad.

::showing the way to baguettes

::enjoying the first bite

Lucy's assessment

I am having lots of fun here in France.F-R-A-N-C-E! I can't believe it! (Well, I guess I can.) At first the internet was working, but on the second day it stopped working and so we always went to Mc Donalds to use the internet.Then, the guy who owns the place we're staying in's friend, John Do (If that sounds right) came and fixed it, but still it was freezing a lot. Soon, we realized the problem. We had been using it o our laps and whenever you moved it, EVEN THE SLIGHTEST MOVEMENT, made it freeze. So, right now I'm sitting at the table, writing THIS, being careful not to move it. We like to go to a mountain of rock with a castle on top of it. Well, the ruins of it. There, we can see narrow windows almost like slits that widen out for shooting arrows during the war a long time ago. The first time we walked to the bibliotheque (library) we saw a big memorial that said in honor of all the children and men who died in war (in French) and beneath that it had a list of names. At night when we walk by there are lights shining red, white, and blue on to it.  We like a lot of the food here in France. I'm glad I do! Here they have baguettes. If you're familiar with them you'll believe me when I say: THEY'RE A LOT BETTER THAN THE ONEES THEY TRY TO MAKE IN AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE BAGUETTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  AND I'M NOT EXAGGERATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!         

mother tongue

Last week I was invited to attend a Relief Society dinner at the church.  A very nice woman lives in our town so she offered to pick me up at a store and give me a ride.  We initially were speaking French, but it soon became apparent that her English was much better than my French so we drifted over into that language.  She was telling me about herself and then about interesting things to do in the area when she came to a word that she didn't know in English.  I didn't know the French word so she tried describing what she was talking about.  I knew what she meant, but I couldn't think of the English word either.  I blamed it on having babies and we moved on.  Later I was helping her set up for the dinner and she was in the kitchen looking for some things.  I asked if I could help and she said the she needed some big plates, how do you say that in English?  I replied, plater.  No, that is not a typo, I actually said plate-er.  I quickly corrected myself, No, a platter!  And then doubled over laughing.  She looked at me quizzically as I thought when people ask me if I speak English I will have to say, Non, rien.  Nothing.  I speak nothing.  Matthew tried to look at the bright side and told me that this must mean that my mind was working so hard on learning French that it is concentrating on that and soon my English will be okay again.  I am not quite so hopeful, merely confused.

While I obviously am not succeeding with the actual coherency bit of speaking, I have been turning my efforts toward working on my tone.  Mainly the manner in which I speak to my family.  I was worried before we came about getting very frustrated with my kids, being in a confined space for three months with no respite, having to make sure they get school work done, etc.  I had decided that I had to do some things differently because the lecturing, yelling, what have you, was not really working.  Now, for example, let's say there is a completely fictitious 13 year old boy hypothetically teasing a 9 year old girl... in the past I might tell him all about why he shouldn't do that, how he should be acting, what he could do next, where he should go to think about it all,  on and on and on.  I am rolling my eyes at myself!  So I have been trying to just distract him or remove him from the situation, notice the positive, or simply suggest to him something to do that is more constructive and it totally works!  He knows what correct behavior is, but sometimes he is just restless.  I  used him as an example, but of course this applies to all of the make believe people at my house.

 So although I seem to be losing my grasp on my mother tongue, I am trying to refine my mothering one at least.