Bergen Beauty

A stop in Norway was a return to familiar weather (rain!), as well as an eye-popping tour of incredible natural beauty. We toured the Hordaland region, which includes Bergen and the surrounding countryside: home to fjords, fish, ‘falls…and trolls.

Video clip here.

Our magnificent hosts included a real, live, working anthropologist, and that also meant behind-the-scenes access to the local cultural and natural history museum. 

(We hope these photos don't get him into any trouble with the museum!!)

We will return to our EU travels refreshed and ready for more roadtrip adventures!

Deutschland

Germany has been the second leg of our roadtrip, which actually means a bit less time on the road – thanks to the lack of speed limits on many stretches of the Autobahn. (Not that our fully-loaded wagon is designed for speed!)

Munich
Our first stop was in Munich, visiting friends and enjoying more of a “locals” experience of the bike-friendly city (including riding beautifully restored bikes from the 1930s). A mandatory beer garden visit helped us to beat the heat, as did taking a dip in the appropriately-named “ice river” (Eisbach) which runs through the city’s wonderful Englischer Garten – not only cooling us off, but proving that Nick might have a future as a countertenor! An unplanned stop at “BMW World” closed out our days in Munich, and also fed our Autobahn fantasies. 

Don't worry (yet), it's only apple juice!  ;-)

Don't worry, they're not licensed...yet!

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We then spent a day in a picturesque walled city, the name of which now escapes us…hmmm...maybe this video clip will help.

Video clip here.

Berlin

As expected, Berlin was a mix of astounding and disquieting experiences. The Field of Stelae at the Holocaust Memorial is just one example of the many sights that are breathtaking in their beauty, while leaving you breathless when trying to grasp their significance. The same applies to our visit to the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, which included a tour guide using diagrams and sidewalk chalk to help the girls understand the East-West division. An especially troubling part of our Berlin visit was the unexpected overlap with the controversial and often hateful Quds day. This explained the huge police presence throughout Berlin, especially around Jewish shops, homes and synagogues, and we happened to be staying on the central street where the major demonstrations took place. Although Berlin offered many amazing "teachable moments" for our family, we were happy to then head to areas on the outskirts of the city.

Zehlendorf/Potsdam
We stayed with friends for our last couple of days, which also meant playmates, a trampoline, and bunnies. What more could you ask for?

Our Stop-and-Go roadtrip heads to Norway next!

I Giorni Dopo Genova

After a series of sad goodbyes in Genoa, we are ending our adventure the same way it started last summer: with a road trip around Europe. The first set of days after Genoa (i giorni dopo Genova) took us to Southern France (Nice), and then to Central Switzerland (Thusis). 

Our stop in Nice coincided with Bastille Day, which meant that "explosive situations" were all around us: from narrowly avoiding a protest as it passed through the central square, to taking in fireworks at the shore in the evening.

Video clip here.

Switzerland was much more tranquil, stopping in the Beverin Nature Park area to take in the incredible natural beauty. (Okay, even Swiss money is beautiful!)

(Video clip here.)

All of this travel is already taking its toll on the kids (and the highways are taking plenty of tolls from us). Although this blog often suggests it's all cooperation and contentment, there's ample bickering and boredom too!

Or, maybe they're just mad that mom and dad finished the wine?!

Mi Errore - Part II

We wouldn't want to mislead our readers with the videos in the prior post, since not everyone developed fluency during our year in Italy! As with the post at the end of last year, a certain family member continued to stumble through his Italian in the remaining months of our stay. Here are representative errori:

• With friends of the girls over for a play date, offering them a choice of treats: one a milk-based (mucca) toffee and the other a Coca-cola flavored candy. “Preferisce una caramella di mucca or Cacca?” The unanimous choice of the milk toffee was initially puzzling, until the giggles subside enough to be reminded that Coke is “Coca”, whereas “cacca” is…well…the same thing it is in English!
• When picking up the girls from a birthday party at a local church, reassuring the guard at the front door that “I'm the father” by saying “io sono il papa.” Just missing the slight inflection on the second “a” (papa vs. papà) completely undermined my credibility, given that I instead declared, “I am the Pope.”
• Equally subtle is the need to hold your consonants an instant longer when the same consonant is doubled in a word. I am grateful that my inquiries about someone’s age at the many birthday parties - “quanti anni hai?” - was taken for its intended meaning. Only once did I have to sort out why the reply was a curt, “1”: later understanding that my mistaken shorter pronunciation of “ani” meant that I was instead asking how many anuses the person had. How’s that for reinforcing the rude American tourist stereotype?! (And for the non-Italian speakers out there, note that your restaurant order for “penne pasta” also needs to emphasize the long “n” sound, otherwise you are inadvertently ordering “penis pasta.”)
• After enjoying a fantastic dinner, stopping the waiter from clearing my plate - so I can finish every last drop of the sauce. A thorough scraping of the plate is lovingly referred to as “scarpetta” in Northern Italy, but given my wine and truffle-induced haze, I firmly held onto my plate while mistakenly exclaiming “scarafaggio!” The waiter immediately released the plate, and after a moment of thinking I had actually correctly used a 4-syllable Italian word, I notice her concerned expression…which makes perfect sense given that I had excitedly blurted out, “cockroach!”
• And to be fair about all the “Lost in Translation” issues, I'm not the only one who has trouble with penne pasta!

Arrivederci, Genova

An Italian-style video send-off from the girls, plus an English translation - including translating the gestures!

   We will miss you, Genoa!

365...10

My sister and I realized that today is exactly one year since we flew out of Portland. And now we have 10 days left before our family leaves Genoa to start a trip around Europe before heading back. None of us can believe it is almost over. 10% of my life so far has been living away from home, and the time has gone by so fast!  

5 Lands; Seattle 5

We took our final Italian trip with friends visiting from Seattle – spending a long weekend in the Cinque Terre. We visited several of the 5 towns, and mostly just stocked up on Vitamin D, good food, and great local wine. 

For all of the ups and downs of this last year, we feel very lucky to be enjoying times like these!