Germany and Italy

Paul will write more erudite prose shortly, but for now I'll provide, in conversational babble, an update of our travels.  We have only had intermittent internet so I apologize for our slow update!  Our last week in London was filled with cramming in the last minute 'must see' sights and enjoying dinners with family.  We  took the train ~ 1 hour to Windsor Castle and enjoyed the beauty, art, and amazing history of this still-used residence of the monarchy.  We also toured the Tower of London, finding ourselves engrossed in the gruesome history of prisoners and torture...not to mention those privileged enough to get their heads cut off there (Anne Boleyn among them.)  We had our first (hopefully last?) brush with health care abroad as one of Aidan's semi-repaired front teeth, both of which were sheered off in an accident when he was 7, fractured off and we spent many hours over two days in a dental clinic trying to get the tooth repaired.  The dentist was wonderful and tried to make a new segment of the tooth, but sadly it broke off again only a week later.  So, if Aidan's not smiling much in pictures it's his attempt to hide his tooth, not that he's not having fun (I hope.)  It was a wonderful time in London and my longest stint there since college.    After a somewhat sappy good-bye to my aunt and family there, we were off to Germany to connect with Paul's family.

We arrived in Munich on July 29 and rented a car to drive to Paul's family's house ~1 1/2 hours east of Munich.  They live just outside a small village called Tann very near the Austrian border.  This is the home where Paul traveled to as a teen and the home of his mother's first cousin and her family.  Paul is quite close to her two children (his second cousins.)  We were just there for a day and two nights initially as Paul and one of his cousin's, Joe (aka Peppi), had planned a trans-Alp mountain bike ride from July 31-August 5.  Paul and Joe headed off early Sunday morning, July 31, to start their ride and the boys and I made our way later in the day to a town in northern Italy called Riva di Garda where we were to wait for them.  Riva is on the northern tip of a large, gorgeous, glacially-formed lake called Lago di Garda.  I had rented an apartment ~ 1/4 mile from the lake and the boys and I settled into a nice routine.  "School" for us started August 1 so we would play in the morning and "school" in the afternoons.  Aidan took four days of wind surfing lessons all morning and Charlie and I rented bikes and rode to neighboring villages during his lessons.  There is a large network of bike paths so the riding was car-free which made it stress-free for me (except when Charlie swatted at a bug, swerved on his bike, and careened down an embankment to a gravel road below--fortunately sustaining only a few minor flesh wounds.)  While we had a car, we walked or biked everywhere as August in northern Italy is high season and there were swarms of people.  I did not run into any Americans, however.  Most of the tourists were Italian or German.

We are all still trying to find our groove with "school."  Where is my beloved Scenic family??  Of course I do everything 'wrong' and not like Mrs. Hunt, Mrs. Williams, Mrs. McComb (insert any Scenic teacher name here), but together we are trying to find some routine.  Thanks to my girlfriend Darcie, who spent an evening showing me some great curricula, Aidan has a excellent math book (Life of Fred) and is very motivated in other subjects.  Since we'll be in Rome the end of next week, we've been studying ancient Rome and Aidan's current history project is to research a character from ancient Roman times, make a costume for himself, dress up, then tell us about who is he, how he lives, what he does, etc. followed by familial Q & A.  We should have a fun evening role playing in Rome after a day of sightseeing.  Charlie is doing a biography of an emperor of his choice.  Charlie has been less enthusiastic in school so far and finds everything 'boring.'  He's using a Singapore math curriculum and doing very well, but he misses Mad Minutes and other fun things he has done in the classroom setting.  I'll be emailing teachers, I'm sure, to solicit some help.  Both boys are not very interested in putting pen to paper so writing is another challenge.  Fortunately, Aidan is an avid reader and plows through books.  Charlie's reading has really picked up also and he's reading more and more books independently.  They both love books and still enjoy being read to every night.

One afternoon in Italy just as we finished our school work the doorbell of our flat rang.  I assumed it was someone wanting me to move my rental car and was so surprised when I looked out the window and saw Paul and Joe.  Joe had crashed his bike and while his body was uninjured his bike sustained a breakage requiring a part and a one day shortening of their ride.  They arrived sweaty, tan, happy, and tired.  We enjoyed two more nights in Riva before heading back to Tann, Germany.  Paul and Joe had to take the train with their bikes to their starting point as the rental car had no place for bikes.  The boys and I drove to meet them.  Unfortunately the traffic was so horrific on the Saturday morning we left that it took us three hours to go 30 km.  Ugh!  Thankfully Joe left us with a bag of Haribo gummy bears which I doled out slowly, getting us through the worst of the traffic with minimal hand-to-hand backseat combat.

We spent the next eight days in Tann enjoying the countryside, hiking a mountain near Salzburg, Austria; eating, drinking, eating, drinking, swimming a bit, and generally relaxing.  We had Kaffee and Kuchen most afternoons (a most civilized event) either at home or at homes of extended family.  It was fun to hear stories of when Paul was in Germany as a teenager.  My most proper husband, I'm happy to know, was not always so proper.  On one visit, Joe had to bring Paul and his younger brother, Stephen, to school with him.  Paul and Stephen were soon kicked out of the classroom for being disruptive.  They sat on the steps outside the classroom windows loudly whistling "Yankee Doodle Dandy" for hours.  Who knew Paulie could be so ornery?  Makes me love him even more.

We are now staying with Joe at his house in a city called Esslingen just outside of Stuttgart.  We are enjoying this gorgeous area (we are not in Bavaria anymore, this region is called Baden-Wurttemberg) and there is great running and biking from the door.  Many of the paths are paved, but there are steep, short hills that wind through vineyards and forests with impressive views of the surrounding cities and countryside.  We are cooking at home predominately on this trip so far, but we have eaten out enough to know that the food is wonderful.  I'm enjoying daily visits to the bakery for amazing bread, the butcher for sausages/salamis, and the market for other things.  Of course, I don't always get it right.  Yesterday I came home with what I thought were frozen chicken breasts only to find they were frozen chicken parts no one eats.  Thank God for Paul--without hesitating he made a great chicken stock out of these gory bits which he then used to make a delicious spinach/mushroom risotto.

More later as time goes on.  We think of our friends often and miss everyone back home!  We're working on the pictures...really!