Italy

Our adventures this time took us to a few places, to name the least, Italy. Mom and dad rented a villa in Tuscany, right outside of Pisa for a week. What a great place to relax and wish you lived in Italy! David and I headed to Sardina, an island off of the coast, for 2 days (work for Brooke, play time for David). It was heaven on earth. We were able to visit the house of a local sculpture who took rocks and cut rivits in them to create different sounds.

The villa had a great brick oven outside the house, which fed our pizza and garlic bread ball appetites for the week. The wine was great, the food fresh and the pizza tons of fun to make and eat. Although we were overrun with misquitoes while we were there, I think the "suffering" was worth the trip! We couldn't figure out the coffee maker (perculator) so we had to improvise with strainers, paper towels and boiled grinds. All in all, a good brew! David, Brooke and Ashton went for a ride and found a lake, that then lead to renting a canoe, that then lead to us out on the river for an hour, paddling with the ducks and praying our boat didn't turn over.

Pisa was just a day journey for us. The tower was not as big as I had imagined, but once you were inside, you started to freak out as it literally leaned! Walking up 300 stairs, leaning half the time, was quite a trip! David wasn't too thrilled at the top, as the lean made you feel as if you were falling off! We had a great time walking the canals and trying to drive through the city with Maggie, our GPS guru. We were in luck this time as the soccer championships were in full swing, and Italy was in the playoffs while we were in all the cities in Italy. Needless to say, it was hard to find restuarants open as they all close to watch the game!

Florence was such a great city. Although we didn't have time in our day trip to see the actual sculpture of David, we saw a good remake! They had the biggest beer's, great shopping (shoes were to DIE for!) and decent food. Florence had a great little market with fun vendors (great gifts for those who watched the cats) and fun bargening. The architecture in Florence is quite different from Rome. Many of the churches looked a lot like the Taj Mah Hall in India with the inlaid marble and designs. Although dad did take the side of the car off trying to get out of the car garage we parked in, Florence is a great city!

Sardina...the gorgeous island of paradise! We went down to Villasiumus where our hotel was literally on the edge of the island. You couldn't go any further out as the ocean was there. The Sofietel (same as Egypt) was 10 times better, the food fabulous and the company great. We got some good tans as most of our time was on the beach, enjoying the warmth and soothing sounds of the ocean. I would definately go back.

Italy you have my heart. One day we shall meet again..but for a much longer adventure.

London 2008

The last of our trips over to London while the family was there proved to be yet another great adventure! Ashton graduated high school while we were there. We found some great farmer's markets and even squeezed in a half marathon in St. Alban's. We ate our last fish and chips at the Anchor Inn and said good bye to the 6 Denning Close we called our home away from home. Even though our adventure in London was short lived, we will be back I am quite sure.

More Prague pics...

Ashton took some really cool photos on our trip. Totally brings out the artistic side! So I stole some of them for my own use... Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Prague

I decided to out to see my family last weekend. I know, crazy idea to go for 5 days, but all in all it was well worth it.

My family headed out on Thursday night to Prague in the Chek Republic. We had such fun...even though it was a bank holiday for all of Europe. The city is so cute and quaint. I can see why so many people want to travel there and why so many students spend semesters there. The people are nice, the food is cheap and the architecture is so different than other cities I've seen thus far.

The clock tower in the city center is totally cool. It's wired with marionette puppets so when it gongs on the hour the puppets come to life. Very cool.

Prague Castle is nice, but the cathedral...WOW! The stained glass windows are so different than other churchs. Ashton was excited to be there because Mucha (the artist) designed on of the windows.

While at the Castle grounds we decided to try and exit out the back (instead of where we came in at). As we got to where the exit should have been we saw a bunch of construction walls. They had decided it would be a good idea to redo the road out of the castle. Thus they were routing everyone through a small tunnel entry way (note picture with ALL the people trying to get out). There was enough room for one person to come in and one to go out. And it was utter chaos. We had a good laugh...ah gotta love Europeans.

We had a great time, even though it was for a few short days. I will definately be back...this time with David.

Glenwood Springs...Hanging Lake and Doc Holliday's Grave

We headed up to Glenwood Springs this weekend...partly to go to Aspen before the season ended and hit up the thrift stores and also to go to the Hot Springs. We stayed at this great B&B about 5 min out of Glenwood Springs. Nice and relaxing.





The hot springs were pretty cool...the smell of Sulphur only gets you for the first few minutes, and then it's not so bad.



We also visited the "grave" of Doc Holliday. They are not sure where he's buried, but it's somewhere in the cemetary.


We headed up to Hanging Lake on the way home. It was really pretty, but a really tough hike! Given that it's April, and there is still snow everywhere, the 1.5 mile hike UP the mountain was icy and steep. The way down...well reverse the way up and there you have it! One big ice sheet slide. And the incline/decline was pretty substantal.





All in all, it was nice to go up to the mountains. We hadn't been all year, so at least we went while there was snow on the ground. I doubt we'll go back for a weekend trip. But it was fun all the less.