jasmine3

We're back!!! Our Family's first trip to Europe. Thank you to everyone on this board for providing suggestions. I started planning the trip in Jan. We travelled with our 3 kids---11 y.o. daughter, 9 y.o. son who has high functioning autism and our 4 y.o. son. We had a wonderful experience and time in Europe.

7/7/07--- We departed the airport on a Boeing 777---direct flight to Munich. The kids got a kick out of that! Oh, we packed VERY light for 3 weeks. 2 suitcases and each person had a backpack. The kids backpacks were filled with books and anything to entertain them. Once the book was read, it was pitched (or possibly sent home as we planned to ship gifts back home, as needed). So the backpacks became lighter as our trip progressed. The backpack my husband carried was a photographer's backpack which held all our camera lens, 2 cameras, 2 laptops (and the 2 ipods). We are avid photographers (we took over 12,000 pics on this trip!)

The only real glitch we had at the airport was checking in our 2 pieces of luggage (the stroller we checked in at the gate). When hubby purchased tickets from United, they ended up mailing "paper tickets" to him back in January so we had to go to a counter to check-in our luggage (according to United). We are directed to a line by a United Employee. When we reach the counter, we are berated by another United employee that we are not to be in the line and that we have to proceed to another extremely long line. My husband and I did not see why we should have to move when "THEY" directed us there. Long story short....she finally believed that another United Employee was directing passengers to her line so she begrudingly checked in our bags! I know I checked several times to make sure she had placed Munich tags on our luggage!

We went through security so efficiently. My kids couldn't believe how many people had huge tubes of toothpaste and liquid after seeing the tv screens while waiting in line showing what was acceptable.

Waited at the gate. Starbucks runs for the kids. Hubby in search of an expensive turkey sandwich for me.

We made it on the plane. I think we were in the center of the plane. 5 seats in the center so we are all together.

There was a woman with the four kids that my 9 y.o. son started chatting with while we waited at the gate for our flight. All I remember before that flight was one of her 2 oldest sons going to my oldest son----does your mom let you have candy? They showed my son bags and bags of candy!

Can I tell you red dyes and young kids and a plane flight? I began to worry! Well, this mom and her 4 sons were on our same flight to Munich.

We were offered food around 7 p.m. time frame (after the sodas and bag of pretzels). The staff were clearing things up and you could tell that people were in the mode to “sleep”. I know that I wanted to catch a few zzz's.

Now, my 4 y.o. son fell asleep well before dinner was served. I think he fell asleep about 6:45 p.m.---so, not long after we took off. (around 6:10 p.m.)

Around 9 p.m, it all started.... never-ending screaming, wailing. It was awful. I was glad we weren’t in that section of the plane, but we could all still hear it loud and clear.

And, this is why I do not believe you should give your kids foods with red dyes (candies). I mean some once in a while (like Halloween). But these kids consumed a boatload of candy before they had hopped on our plane. One of the older brothers tried to walk this little boy up and down the aisle and he kept crying.

09:30 p.m. Still hearing the crying the screaming.....
10:00 p.m. Still hearing they crying and screaming.....still very loud
10:30 p.m. Oh it hasn’t stopped yet. Passengers are getting up trying to figure out how to get this child to stop screaming!
11:00 p.m. Still going strong! This kid has a set of lungs.

My 11 y.o. daughter was so tired she crashed her head on my shoulder and husband got our 9 y.o. to sleep around 10:15 p.m. Then who should wake up? Yep, my 4 y.o. son. The stewardess was kind enough to get him something to munch on since he missed dinner. He sat on my lap listening to the screaming child and said “I’m a good boy Mommy, I’m not crying”. I agreed with him. He sat in my lap and we watched the map on the tv screen in front of us while I suffered from exhaustion.

11:30 p.m. Still going strong.

I guess about 11:45 p.m. he stopped crying. Peace.... finally! But, wait a minute. I wouldn’t have too much time to get a few winks before we would arrive in Munich, Germany.


Day #2- 7/8/07- Arriving in Munich.

I got in a few winks. I think the whole plane was tired from the screaming. I told my husband that I hoped this wasn't a reflection of how the rest of the trip would go!

We arrived into Munich around 8:21 a.m. Empty airport. Went through customs quickly. Retrieved our luggage quickly.

Didn't know really where to go so we started wandering to find the S-Bahn. Found some signs directing us. So far so good. Found a information desk and had our Eurail passes validated and stamped. Ultimately we decided that this would be the easiest for us and we were glad we had the passes during the trip (our trip was Germany, day trip to Austria, Venice, Rome, Florence & Switzerland)

We took the S-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof in Munich. I believe it took us 40 mins for the train ride. When we arrive at the train station, pleas for some sort of food from our kids.

Now, my 9 y.o. son loves croissants so we promised if at all possible at least 1 croissant/day on vacation. We pass by a wonderful shop that had fresh croissants and other yummy goodies. My 4 y.o. wanted something else (yes from Mickey D's)---he saw the golden arches so we grabbed something there for him.

We headed out of the Main train station in search of our hotel----Hotel Uhland. What a wonderful hotel, wonderful staff. We had a large family room for 5. I cannot speak highly enough about this hotel. We decided to walk with our luggage to see how we would do. They were real troopers. I guess it was about 5 long blocks and we found it with no problems. They let us check our luggage in and we then went off to explore Munich.

Armed with a map to head towards Marienplatz. See the Glockenspiel (we have just missed the 11 a.m. time by about 20 mins.). Visit one church (youngest is sound asleep in the stroller). Meander through side streets. Visit another church ( I believe it was St. Peter's). Listen to musicians playing by store-fronts, admire architecture while jet-lagged. Sit by a huge water fountain and people watch.

My daughter picks a restaurant right near the Glockenspiel for "something sweet". She wants to sit outside under an umbrella. No umbrellas. 4 y.o. still asleep. The 2 oldest kids order dessert. Wonderful! She ordered a dessert with fresh fruits and different types of sorbet. It was so refreshing. They tried a drink called- Zittronenlimonada (she asked for Lemonade) and both kids loved it--but wondered where the ice was ?!?

We loved walking around. 4 y.o. woke up and wondered why he didn't have any dessert! We found the Hard Rock Cafe ( I collect Hurricane Glasses from Hard Rock Cafe). Would frequent Platz 1 quite a bit. I loved the look and feel of it!

Headed back to Hotel Uhland. I guess by now it is about 5 p.m. Everyone is tired. We have to get up early for our tour of Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle.

Fodorite018

Sounds like a great trip, despite the rocky start on the plane, lol! Can't wait to read about the rest of the trip

jasmine3

Preparation for our trip for the kids:

1. Reading books, videotapes from the library

2. Use of the internet For our 4 y.o. son. He was EXTREMELY excited to see Neuschwanstein/Linderhof because his Grandpa loved seeing them (and yes he can pronounce them correctly). He asked me at least once a week to go to the websites for the castles and we would look at the floor plans and pictures of the rooms in the castles. I was curious to see how he would react when we would enter the castles!

3) Our 2 oldest kids worked on learning German and Italian via their ipods.

4) Our kids did a blog during our trip and posted pics to keep family and friends updated so I think on a few of the days of this Trip Report, I will post what they wrote from their blog section. YES, this was time consuming but a good experience for them and they loved working on the blog.

Tonite at dinner, my kids asked for gelato for dessert. I heard lots of Grazie's and Prego's today in our household. I know they soaked in alot from the past wonderful 21 days and enjoyed every bit of it. I know I saw everything differently through their eyes also.


7/9/07--Day #3--Linderhof/Neuschwanstein Castles.

Jet lagged. We got up early. Had a continental type breakfast at Hotel Uhland.
Croissants, breads, juices, sliced meats, hard and soft-boiled eggs.... you get the picture.

We had to be at the front of Hertie’s Department Store across from the Main Train Station no later than 8:15 a.m.

Now, I am not a big fan of these big tour buses, but when I was researching this trip and trying to figure out how we could do this trip “on our own”, it just seemed too complicated for even me. I booked the tour to see the 2 castles (Neuschwanstein & Linderhof) by Viator (they have a website). I have used Viator in the past for some excursions off cruise ships and trips to Florida we have done. Pricey. But, I thought we might not be able to figure out where were going and better to be on an airconditioned bus and not have to worry about missing something.

Tour guide’s name ---Clark. Lives in Munich in Summer and Winters in Nashville. We rode on the Autobahn.

Impression of tour guide: One felt rushed throughout the tour in terms of “time” to do things. It was too tight of a schedule than I would have preferred, but we did it. He also kept trying to promote his website. I’ll have to post that later (if I think it's worth it).

Weather Conditions: Well, on Sunday, it was nice and sunny and hot in Munich. So we left Hotel Uhland in shorts/t-shirts for the kids. Husband and I were in these pants that dry really fast (purchased at an REI Store. Very light/lots of pockets---pants unzip to become shorts.

I am a very organized person. Had the umbrellas, jackets packed. But I am feeling very tired on this particular Monday morning and forgot to bring them for this tour.

Ok...sorry about getting of tangent. It started raining...no, not just raining POURING! When we got to our first stop at Linderhof Castle, we ran with the kids to buy cheap clear ponchos (the plastic ones with a plastic hood). Of course, since they are "One size", it is too big for 4 y.o. son so we tied knots in it to make it shorter. Very interesting looking. Of course, in my mind I’m thinking about how our pictures will look! At 10:30 a.m. the fountain went off in front of Linderhof. Our pictures look so-so. Remember we’re being rained on. It stopped for about 15 mins. and started pouring again.

Impression of Linderhof Castle: I loved the outside and the grounds of Linderhof Castle. They are absolutely beautiful. But the interior was in this 24K Gold and was a bit much for me---a bit gawdy. Mad King Ludwig and I would not have agreed on how to decorate. The kids loved the infinite mirror I wish we had more time to explore the grounds, but we were at the mercy of a tour bus. Also wished actual tour of the castle would have been longer.

We had to make a mad rush to the bus (in the rain) and then off to Oberramagau. I hope I’m spelling the name correctly!

A cute town. But we were only given about 40 mins. to shop in this town. Beautiful murals on the buildings. My daughter said she felt like she was in a storybook setting in this town. I smiled at this. I absolutely want to come back and visit this town again in my life. The shops were quaint. The town was lovely.

Off to Fussen. We ate at Hotel Muller Restaurant. They had a huge room set off aside for our tour bus to have “lunch”. Clark said. They’re fast. Like 30 mins. fast.
One of our family vacation rules was: Not to rush and not to eat too fast! Well, we broke that rule quickly!

Husband and 2 older kids were in the very back of the double decker tour bus (top level) and little munchkin and I were sitting up closer to the front of the bus (also on the top level). Husband and I were mouthing a lot to each other in our special sign language that couples have. Tour guide was insisting we eat lunch and since restaurant was going to be so efficient, we would then have time to hike the 20 mins. to Marienbrucke (Mary’s Bridge), quick take our pictures, rush the 15 mins. walk to Neuschwanstein castle in time for our “tour”, then have 25 mins. to walk down hill back to our bus! Whew! I get weary thinking about that.

Now the tour guide said: Walk for those who are “physically fit” and have “fitness”. From reading various message boards, some had suggested that you take the carriage ride up part way and then walk to Marienbrucke. That is what I wanted to do. I turn around to look at my husband and he’s mouthing “we’re walking”. I’m shaking my head “no”, he’s nodding “yes”. I’m thinking of the kids and the rain. I think he saw this as some great challenge with 3 young kids.

Now, my personal opinion is that this tour guide has an agreement that “x” number of people will get in their restaurant to eat---hence, they make “x” $$$$$’s in revenue so he bah humbug’s anyone suggesting they will try and take the carriage ride saying that we have to wait in a long queue.

So, I resolved to go along with husband's plan.

Sat at big tables in the Hotel Muller Restaurant. An awfully cute restaurant. And from where we sat, we had a great view of Neuschwanstein up the mountain. Hot chocolates to warm up, yummy yummy potato soups, salads, we ordered 2 cheescakes (but only got one). Food came out randomly for everyone. And it took FOREVER for us to get the bill to pay. We met a couple from Chicago (she was moving to San Fran. area) later figured out talking with husband that they were brother and sister (oops ;-) ! Must still be jet lagged!!

We go out in the pouring rain to start walking up the hill.

The very steep hill.

The pouring rain.

The very steep hill. My legs aching from lactic acid buildup. Now I trained a lot on “hill mode” at Lifetime Fitness during my daily workouts, but this didn’t matter.

The pouring rain. My glasses were wet. I could not see!

Avoiding “horse poop” along our steep walk.

Imagine a few scowls made by me to my husband as a horse carriage of “dry people” pass us ;-) I’m sure they were thinking we were all crazy. I carried 4 y.o. son on my back up part of the hill. Handed him off to husand for more piggyback ride for a few mins. Then we let hike hike on his own in that cheap, clear, plastic poncho

Make that right turn towards “Mary’s Bridge”....gee I thought we were close, but that hill got steeper. At this point, husband is carrying young kiddo on his back. It is POURING RAIN!

We get to Marienbrucke “Mary’s Bridge”. Ask someone to take our photo. Take a few shots.

Zap....we’re sprinting back down the hill toward’s Neuschwanstein.

Get to Neuschwanstein Castle. This is the castle that inspired Disney. It is beautiful and grandiose! We get in for our tour and I’m so glad we went inside. Originally I had read, that Mad King Ludwig did not finish it, but I preferred the deep colored wood work in Neuschwanstein Castle over the 24 K Gold of Linderhof Castle.

We then RUN ...

yep, you got it in pouring rain downhill to meet the tour bus (in the knick of time).


I had an organic blowpop in my travel bag that I bribed 4 y.o. son with to come down the mountain ( I am holding it in my hand) and he is chasing me. It worked most of the way down, then husband carried him on his shoulders. YES, sometimes the things we do as parents are kind of crazy.

Boy, sure could have used some more of that wonderful potato soup and hot chocolate from Hotel Muller restaurant but absolutely no time for that.

Munchkin kid and I go to our seats. His shoes are totally soaked. His socks are soaked. I take them off (against his will) and start warming up his feet. Poor thing. He fell asleep on me (wet).

We arrived back to Hertie’s about 8 p.m. bought oldest daughter German “crocs” b/c her shoes were soaked. Oldest son needed some new socks. And the trooper munchkin got a new pair of shoes. He immediately declared to us that they were his "new German SuperFast shoes" and were reminded of this for the next 18 days by him because there were tiny holes on the bottoms of his soles that made his shoes "breathe"--hence, making them "SuperFast German shoes"!

Walk back to our hotel in light rain (grab some takeout pizza) from the same restaurant from the other day (it was easy) and take warm showers and crash!!

Whatta long day. But we all LOVED it--the kids didn't complain one bit in the rain. It was quite memorable! I met two friends from NY on the bus traveling together and we had a nice talk on the bus. They had been lifelong friends and every few years they pick countrie(s) to explore together. And btw, 4 y.o. son LOVED both castles and was quite familiar with the rooms from our website visits!


7/10/07--Day #4--Day Trip to Salzburg, Austria.

This is what my 11 y.o. daughter posted on her blog for 7/10/07 trip to Salzburg. Here goes:


Today in Salzburg we had loads of fun! Well, this morning we woke up late, so we couldn’t eat breakfast downstairs. Instead, we got food at the train station that was delicious! At first we accidentally sat down at aChinese restaurant, then the owner came over and we said “oops!” We found a bench nearby--still not as great as a table and chairs, but ok and sat down. As soon as we finished we rushed with our leftovers (it’s nice that you can take food on the train over here) and headed for the train to Salzburg!

Oops! I forgot to mention that before we ate, we went to the Post Banke (the Post Office) to mail a package home with a few souvenirs. It was interesting to mail packages from another country. The process seemed slower than when I go to the Post Office with my Mom at home. It was fun stamping the postcards.

The train was delayed for 10 minutes. On the train, I read a whole book and listened to the ipod. When we got there, I noticed Salzburg was a very nice city. Basically, we just walked around looking for shops. One thing I liked was a giant chess game stationed in a platz (like a plaza).

Then we headed for the Hohensalzburg Fortress One room contained some of the materials used for torture! There was a chair with spikes on the arms and on the back of it. I thought somehow you could just relax your hands on the top of the spikes until I saw the handcuffs! They would actually chain your hands and wrists to the chair, digging your arm into the spikes. They also had some helmets and wheels in that room. I went into a room with some art, but I couldn’t really remember what they had there because I needed to go to the WC (Wash Closet; bathroom, toilet; toilette). The toilet didn’t cost anything, but it was that clean and no charge.

We ate at the restaurant with a beautiful view! Right after we finished eating, the sky became very dark and strong winds started blowing. It started raining! It rained for the rest of the day!

The funicular going up and down from the fortress is cool. We watched more chess after our visit. Then we visited Mirabell Gardens--so pretty!

We caught the train back to Munich around 7 p.m. and back to our hotel.

More coming later! Will the rain ever stop?

Ciao, Jasmine

TRSW

Jasmine,

A great start of your report. It sounds like all 3 of your kids are real troopers.

12,000 pictures, WOW!!!! I hope you post a link to some of them.

Tom

jasmine3

Tom,
I will post our pics on my site as soon as I can! I am now in the process of getting one of the kids ready for his first time at overnite camp.

I wanted to share that I have enjoyed looking at your pics a great deal!

Jasmine

marigross

looking forward to more!

jasmine3

Day #5--7/11/07- Zugspitze Today (Trip Report from my 11 y.o's blog!)

We got up a bit later today. I had fun in Salzburg yesterday. We missed breakfast at our hotel again.
But, my brothers and I love the train station. So much selection of good food and I think it makes it easier for Mom and Dad. I tried this pressed kabob sandwich and it was yummy.

We took the train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I love bringing food on the trains. Where we live, they do not allow food on the Metro system. Our plan today is to go up to see Zugspitze--the highest point in Germany.

My Mom says the key here is a Clear Day. Unfortunately, I think with our luck we aren't going to have a clear day in Germany so our family decides we will still go up to Zugspitze and have a fun time.

The train ride was about 1 hour 24 minutes. There are so many trains. I love how you know how many minutes until the next train arrives. Good train signs. My mom is glad not to have all the traffic at home chauffering us all around to all our classes! This is the way to travel, I think---trains!

We get to Garmish. Went through a long tunnel and made a left. My Dad purchased tickets to Zugspitze. He said it was expensive--114 Euros. BUT, my little brother is Free!

We went on a Cog Wheel train to Eibsee. Well, my mom thought we had to stop at Grainau stop. She made us get off the train and then realized we were not at the right stop so we quickly got back on the train. She said we probably looked like typical tourists which I thought was funny because we were.

We got off the Eibsee stop. We took our WC break because the parents said we needed to whenever there was a free bathroom. I didn't have to go. We waited for the cable car. It came and we got on first and waited for another big group to come on. My dad was in the back with his big zoom lens. Mom was up front with us with her small camera.

My brother who is 9 started talking with a German boy named (Kai) in English. The boy was shy but his Dad helped him out. They found out they both liked Legos. My brother told him that we were going to Legoland tomorrow.

We took off! It is so high. The views were pretty and I remember seeing a big lake! My little brother kept screaming 'look at that huge mountain' all the way up. We were excited to see the ice and snow!

My mom brought us some gloves from home. We went through a museum part and then out into the snow! Since we could not see anything and it was so bright outside we made snowballs and threw them out each other. Someone took a family picture of us.

We went inside to one of the restaurants to get hot chocolate and some food. My mom and Dad did not like the food and my mom told the waiter that the food was not good. The hot chocolate was yummy.

They let us go out again and play in the snow till we were tired and cold again.

Dad let us go to the gift shop and we bought some gifts. I buy a thimble for my friend in Georgia who collects them from around the world. It is a pretty thimble. I pay with 3 Euros for the thimble. Dad gave me 5 Euros so I only have 2 left!

We wait for the cable car ride down. When we come off they want to take More pictures. They want to take them all the time. Mom leaves with us out the door but Dad says he will join us outside in a few minutes. He ends up meeting a man in the U.S. military and talks with him for a while. We run around outside and use our binoculars to look back up. The weather starts looking sunny and my dad wants to go back up. We just point to all the clouds still up there and tell him he will not see the other countries. He takes more pictures.

We take the train back to Marienplatz. We get there at 10 minutes before 5. The crowds are so big! We saw the Glockenspiel. My little brother didn't care about seeing it.

We ask if we can go to Hard Rock Cafe. I like the drink Spezi. I think it is Coke and Fanta. My mom loves the area around the Hard Rock Cafe so she shops. We had yummy meal and even ice in our drinks!

After eating at Hard Rock Cafe, we head back to Hotel Uhland. Each day, my mom hears this church's bells (only a 1/2 block away from the hotel) and wants to see the church. We pass by it and she falls in love with how it looks. We are all tired and want to go to the hotel. She convinces one of my brothers to walk around with her while the rest of us go back to the hotel.

Mom is gone for a while. She said she took a ton of pictures of St. Paul's Church and said it was closed but very pretty. She said she heard a choir singing inside.

We got hungry about 9:30. Dad was so great and went in search of some food for us. He ran outside (in the RAIN of course). He did not come back until 11 p.m. with food. Mom was not happy. But the chicken wings, fries and ice cream were good. Dad says it's vacation.


Day #6 Trip Report 7/12/07- No Legoland Today (Rain, Rain)

Well, as you’ve read so far, we’ve had a great deal of rain. We set the alarm for us to wake up at 6 a.m. and we would look and see how the weather looked. Well, he got up and it was pouring rain and very cold!

He woke me up and we decided Legoland (at least for today) was a no go! My very original plan was for us to go on Thursday (today) to the Berchtesgaden Salt Mine.

So, we snoozed till about 10:15 a.m. We had some fruit, juice, chocolate and strawberry milk in the mini-fridge in the room so that kept the kids from asking for food. We finally got out of Hotel Uhland around 12:30 p.m. I think our plan initially was to get lunch (since we missed breakfast), buy the kids t-shirts and souvenirs plus we wanted to go to the Post Bank again to mail everything back home. Then 9 y.o. daughter wanted us to have a “Random Day” where we just picked a train and followed it to “wherever”.

4 y.o. son decided he needed a WC badly. So husband took the boys in search of one at the train station (cost 2,40 Euros to use a bathroom). The boys are fascinated by pushing buttons to flush! This is a topic discussed throughout our trip! During this time, I let the 2 older kids pick out and pay for their lunches. They like paying with Euros. Wow, such a huge selection! Everything looked good. We ended up picking up fresh tomato/mozarella sandwiches (that had a basil sauce on it), spinach strudel, potato wedges, chicken drumsticks---and of course, fresh croissants (12,75 Euros). We couldn’t find a table or bench to sit at so we stood at a tall bar.

Now...off in search of t-shirts. They wanted to go outside the train station for shirts, etc. The first few stores we went to had t-shirts that started at about 20 Euros each so we left. We crossed the street and found a shop a block away. It was a small shop, but the owner was extremely helpful so we decided on a number of shirts and souvenirs.

We walked back across the street to the Post Bank to mail our post cards. First, husband had to get a box and stand in a very long line to buy the box. I was standing by a stamp machine and kept watching how people were purchasing their stamps. I think I had about 20 postcards to mail out. We mailed out about 4 cards and husband arrived back with the box. We already had our packaging tape from our earlier visit in the week so he and daughter boxed things up. Husband went back in the very long line (along with my other postcards). About 55 Euros to mail postcards and the small box. I didn’t realize that the “larger” postcards were about 4 Euros to mail--yikes!!! He asks me not to purchase anymore of the "larger" postcards.

Now, a bit lighter we headed back to the Main Hauptbahnhof to decide how “random” we would be. Daughter decided to just hop on the U1 line and take it to the end. We ended up at Olympia-zentrum stop. As soon as we got off....another child decided a WC was needed!

Thankfully, we were right across from a Mall. The boys saw a gelato stand so he and the boys decided to stay there we went in search for a WC for her. Yellow signage in the mall was excellent. It cost us 1 Euro at the mall to use the WC. Boy were they clean bathrooms. She commented on how she loved seeing areas with fresh fruit all over Germany.

So, as soon as we start walking down a few blocks.....what should happen?
You got it.....raining buckets again! We hopped back on the U1 and went to the previous station which was Georg-Brauchle-Ring. As soon as we hopped off the U1 it was bright and sunny! We walked about 2 blocks and could see ahead----buildings that we were just at during first stop. That was it for us! We decided to go back to Marienplatz.

We went 5 stops to the Main Hauptbahnhof and then jumped on the S-Line to Marienplatz. It brought us right out in front of the Glockenspiel. We could hear and see a rock band playing---I think it was called Helden as I saw a bunch of fans in front of the stage wearing these shirts. We headed toward the Onion Towers---Frauenkirchen. I wanted to go up the dome to take pictures. It wasn’t far away. We were a bit late. By this time, it was right before 5 p.m. and it was closed. Husband took pics of the outside of the church with the big zoom lens while daughter rested her feet by some steps and boys hopped around. I decided to go walk inside the church. It was a beautiful church. Not as ornate as some of the other churches I had visited, but beautiful stained glass windows. Maybe we’ll get to go to it in the morning? We were told to come back at 10 a.m. however we might want to sleep in. We’ll just see how it goes tomorrow.

We ended up walking back to the Marienplatz and decided to have dinner at the Ratskeller restaurant. If you walk in under the Glockenspiel, you enter this beautiful courtyard that is cool and awesome when the church bells start ringing. We entered the Ratskeller through this courtyard area. My kids thought it was cool.

What a lovely restaurant. I love seeing beautiful windows and artwork everywhere. We had a wonderful server. He was very polite. Milks and spezi’s ordered to drink. Husband ordered Entenbrauten (duck with potatoes), I ordered
Rosti with vegetables (a vegetarian dish), Older kids ordered fish entrees and 4 year old declared he only wanted pommes frites (french fries). A really nice atmosphere. Oh, we did try the potato soup. And, I think I agree that it wasn’t as good as the Hotel Mueller’s potato soup that we had near Neuschwanstein Castle on Monday. Meal was approx. 77 Euros. We enjoyed the meal very much.

We then hopped back to the Main Hauptbahnhof so I could get information on the train schedule to Kaltenberg. Tomorrow we see a Knight’s Tournament!
We also learned that we could then hop on the U4 or U5 line to Theresienwiese and we wouldn’t have to walk so far to get to our hotel. Our hotel is about 5 long blocks from the main train station and takes us on avg. 15 mins. to walk (one way).

Back at the hotel room now. 9 y.o. is writing a few sentences in his travel journal. Dad is snoozing. 11 y.o. is watching Mr. Bean in German. 4 y.o. is looking at the Legoland map and dreaming....

** The day was a bit tough. Our son with autism is used to more "schedule and routine" and hearing the word random was a bit difficult so we kept encouraging him that things would be alright on the trip and that sometimes thing happen unexpectedly. We hope it gets better. At the end of the day, he says he has had a fun today and can't wait for Legoland (which we now hope will be on Saturday!) I'm praying for some SUN! **


Day #7-Trip Report Friday, the 13th--7/13/07- Kaltenberg Knights Tournament

Now, I learned about this Knight's Tournament through reading someone's blog and/or seeing some picture on a website. I went online and found the website and called and figured out how to request the tickets for our family. They promptly mailed them to me in the States.

We took the train to Geltendorf. From Geltendorf, the Knight’s tournament was to have a shuttle running back and forth. We got out of the train station. We see no shuttle bus. Only the bus stop so we walk to that, thinking bus 61 will show up. I ask some college students and they happen to be on a year-abroad program in Munich. They are also going to the Knight’s Tournament. One from a Colby? College and then the other 2 girls from Univ. of Oregon. So we chatted with them for a while.

Now, the website was confusing trying to even purchase tickets. I ended up calling Kaltenberg in Feb. to be walked through the process of purchasing these tickets. I even emailed asking for clarification on the tournament. Which they said 14:30 and an evening joust, etc. Which was fine. However we ALL thought the vendors would be open, etc.... NOT.

So, we had 2 1/2 hrs. to kill. We sat at benches in the shade.

11 y.o. daughter recently studied Middle Ages in school for 5th grade, I thought we would all enjoy this.

We loved this tournament. Everything was awesome. The demonstrations, the shows (I was selected to stand on top of a man’s back who was laying on broken glass). I was firmly asked by this man in German (and he was a huge guy) to come out from the audience so I had my 10 mins. of fame there in Germany.

The food was authentic and wonderful.

The cigarette smoke was not so wonderful. It seems we’ve had a lot of that in Germany. I am allergic to the smoke and my eyes get very red and sore.

The pre-programme and joust, stunts, show were spectacular.

Little background: Prince Luitpold of Bavaria opens his grounds up every July for this Knight’s Tournament

If you get a chance to go, it is worth every penny!

In the evening, there are candles everywhere in the marketplace, however we had to boogie on out at 10:00 p.m. to catch the shuttle and make sure we got on the last train back to Munich.

A great evening!

Got back to hotel after midnite. Kids showered and got in clothes for the next day (we were leaving). Husband and I packed everything up. Probably finished all that about 2 a.m? whew! Have offloaded pics to one of laptops and have charged all batteries and ipods.


Day #8 Trip Report for Sat. 7/14/07-- LEGOLAND and then off to VENICE!

Husbands cell phone alarm didn’t go off. It was to go off at 5:40 a.m. Thankfully I woke up. We got the kids up at 6 a.m. and quickly checked out. They went to sleep in their clothes ready to go so it was up and brush teeth.

Can I say that we highly recommend the Hotel Uhland. We only ate 1 breakfast there (because we woke up late all the time), but the staff were very friendly and the price was very reasonable for our family of five. For those who choose to go to Oktoberfest, it is very close to the grounds.

I wished now looking back that I went to the Bavarian Sauna/Massage across the street from Hotel Uhland.

So we walked the 5 blocks to the train station (was faster than negotiating 4 year old down stairs in a stroller to take train).

We then locked our luggage away in a locker (#2703) 4 Euros for 24 hours.

Off to take the 7:50 a.m. train to Gunzburg to Legoland. The day was clear and beautiful! We DESERVED this day after all the rain we went through!

Made it into Gunzburg just in time to catch the Legoland Shuttle (1,50 Euro per person for roundtrip). No charge if you have a Bayern Ticket.

We made it to Legoland. Ate ice cream, dropped ice cream, ate ice cream, dropped ice cream.

4 year old was sad, he wasn’t tall enough to ride the rollercoasters!

Very hot day. We met a couple at the end of the day from Dusseldorf. 9 year old son actually started talking with their son Leon on a bench and Leon’s dad helped him communicate with our son. They ran off together while we talked. They also had an 18 mos. old daughter. This couple kept raving about how much they loved Las Vegas!!

Overall Impression of this Legoland: Legoland in Carlbad California which we visited on June 24, 2006 was 10,000 times better than Legoland Deutschland. This park was much smaller. Very few options for decent food. Many of the food /vendor stands were not open so you had to walk a ways to get a drink or food. You had to PAY for the driving school (not in U.S). 2 oldest kids took the class in German. It wasn’t open for a long time. When it finally opened, they had to get a timed ticket. When they were done driving, the person gave daugter her laminated license with picture and son came out crying because they said they did not have one for him. Husband went to the desk and then someone happened to find this missing license.

Some good points of this Legoland: The new Bionicle ride was cool. They did enjoy the rollercoaster rides. The Mini-Land was great! Cool to see Europe in Legos.

The highlight for our 9. y.o. son with autism was his reserved time to work with the Lego Mindstorm Robots with husband observing. Our son builds the most intricate Lego Designs and I am sure if we can help him make it through college he will be an amazing engineer one day. He had an AWESOME time and is still talking about it!

We got back to the Main train station in Munich (Hauptbahnhof) with about 2 1/2 hours before our 23:40 overnite train to Venice. We ate at a small Italian restaurant downstairs because many things were shutting down and wanted something more than bread ;-) ! Great service/food. Outside the restaurant in the terminal area some drunk threw a bottle of beer against a pillar. Glad we weren’t eating out in their outside area. We were the only ones in the restaurant.

Kids observed college students asleep on the train station floors in sleeping bags and questioned that! Long discussion on that. More brezels, croissants and my kids love them.

Got on this very, very, very, very long train. 6 person couchette. They took our eurail passes, passports. We did have another bunkmate. It all happened fast. Her name was Susanna from Romania. Lights out....windows open...very fast train...not a fancy hotel...but only for a few hours.... I could deal with it.

We all can’t wait to see all the water around Venice in the morning....


More updates later!

Jasmine

MarthaT

Love this report, keep it coming. Anxious to hear more. I like seeing Europe through a childs view on the parts your daughter wrote.

missypie

Great report...I think we'll be taking our kids to Germany next summer. I was interested in reading how your 9 year old would do. Our 16 year old son has Asperger's Syndrome. He's a fantastic traveler because he has lots of interests. However, what never goes over well with him is walking around an area without a specific destination. I love to wander around "cute" or interesting areas, but not having a set destination drives him crazy.

maryanne1

Do continue as I have great admiration for you traveling with 3 children,but what a great expeerience for them. My adult daughter and I spent at least 4 days in Munich and then to Salsburg which we loved. My daughter enjoyed the zoo in Munich-one of our fun days. No rain on our trips,but you certainly dealt with it well.
Thanks especially for sharing your Children's impressions.

Kristinelaine

I'm very much enjoying your report. You must be very laid-back. I can't imagine the day you spent with the tour in the rain at Neuschwanstein. I would not have LOVED it one little bit.

missypie

I don't want to attribute any of my thoughts to the original poster, but we find that trips to Europe with our three kids go better than our trips within the US with our three kids because in Europe we drink more. Seriously. We are very light drinkers and in the US, would not even consider having wine with lunch...but in Europe, it seems perfectly reasonable. A little wine makes things roll off my back more easily. Perhaps if I'd had enough wine, I would have handled Neuschwanstein in the rain calmly. (Or maybe not....it does sound pretty miserable.)

bermudacalling

Jasmine: Glad to hear you are taking your kids on a memorable journey. I travel every year with my 3 kids (roughly same ages as yours now: 11, 9 and 6) and they get to be better and better travelers each trip. We've been doing this since birth and have visited 15-25 countries with them (eldest the most, 6 year old - 15). No better education, in my book. I can't imagine leaving them at home. Only hassle is finding hotels etc that let us put all 5 of us in one room. We easily fit in 2 queen beds, but the hotels almost always make us buy 2 rooms. (Gnashing of teeth). If you find any solutions, please pass them along.
Cheers.

bardo1

.

missypie

We also travel with 5; it is easy when we are going to be in a location for a week...we rent a flat. In Rome and Florence, we were able to rent apartments for only 4-5 nights. The fantastic flat we rented in Barcelona was also available for less than a full week.

My middle child (oldest daughter) is now 14. This summer was the first trip where she started being in serious competiton with me for the bathroom...so booking two rooms (and thus, two bathrooms), might be a "must" in the future.

ellenem

Jasmine, En. What an adventure for your family!

--waiting for more.

TRSW

Jasmine,

I loved your daughters quote about photos "They want to take them all the time" Gave me a good chuckle. Look forward to more of your report.

Tom

PS I am glad you liked my photos

Grcxx3

Jasmine - what a delightful report! We have lived overseas for 6 years and took a trip to Germany 2 Christmas' ago (kids were 7th and 8th graders). We've also been to Salzburg. We loved both places - so your report is bringing back some great memories!

Missypie - I'm with you with respect to the drinking!!!! Since we have growing boys who need frequent re-fueling....we take LOTS of wine/beer stops (for french fries, omlettes, pretzels, whatever) during our travels!!!! It definitely improves the sense of humor when thing go awry!!!

Can't wait to read about the rest of the adventure!

jasmine3

7/15/07

We arrived into the Venice at 7:21 a.m. For me, the couchette experience was ‘alright’. The woman from Romania who was in the 6th bunk left at 5 a.m. at the Verona stop so we received a knock on the door at 5 a.m. where the man on the train gave her back her ticket and passport. It was kind of difficult having my 4 y.o. by me (he started crying saying he was scared up at the very top bunk so I had my husband hand him off to me around 1 a.m.) Throughout the ride, the little munchkin wanted to look out the window while the train was speeding down the track. So, I didn’t get much sleep !

Once I was awakened at 5 a.m. I had to make a visit to the WC on the train (which by the way was a very, very large WC). And clean. Clean is very important to me. To open the WC door, you press a green button (that has a green indicator light) and voila, the door slides open. Once in the WC, you press the red button to close it---this also locks you in.
When I tried to press the green button to exit, the door would not open. I tried several times and started to panic! I get very claustrophobic in closed spaces. So, I decided to press the call button (had a person symbol so I assumed it was for help). I pressed that several times, but no help. Started banging on the door, but people were still asleep and there were two doors that were closed separating this area of the train car. Kept pressing the person button and the green button. Finally, I looked above and saw a little switch (top right of the door). I turned that down and it slid the door open! Whew!! I was glad to be out of there! Not sure why no one came to offer any assistance?

Arrived into Venice! My impression as we walked off the train was that the Venezia, Santa Lucia station was not as nice as the Munich Central Station that we enjoyed so many good lunches from---plus it was much cleaner. I am so excited as I have wanted to come to Venice for years and it doesn't seem real to m.

We walked out of the train station and saw a bunch of steps leading down and the vaporetto. My 4 y. o. came out and said “Look at all this Trash!” There was literally trash everywhere on the ground. We chose the vaporetto stop on the left side. Get to the counter. The man tells me we need to go to the stop on the right to go to San Marco.

I purchase us 4- 24 hour Vaporetto passes (youngest was free). It was 60 Euros for those passes. We waited about 15 minutes. The vaporetto arrived (it was the No. 1). We had no idea how many stops, but I knew were were to stop at the San Marco Vallaresso stop.

Everyone was tired. Husband was nodding off. Daughter fell asleep and my 4 y.o. wanted to be held while I had the weight of this huge backpack on my back. I was tired and hot and it was very humid on the vaporetto. There didn’t seem to be much air flowing from those windows! Well, they call for San Marco stop. But apparently, we are too slow! We are trying to grab all of our junk and the vaporetto pulls away. So we had to wait for the next stop, which thankfully wasn’t too far away. My husband and I quickly decided we would take the next stop and walk back to the San Marco stop.

Well, we made it off and started hauling all of our luggage. Unlike Munich where we experienced soooooo much rain and chilly weather, it was actually sunny and hot in Venice----my body went into shock. Ah....we had to cross over our first bridge (one of many we would cross over).

By the time, we got back to the San Marco Vallaresso vaporetto stop, we were looking for Amadeo from Venice Apartments who was to meet us there. I couldn’t remember what time he was to meet us. This time,it was about 8:30 a.m. I remembered I had copied the email message into my Calendar Notes Section and it was put on my ipod. Pulled that up and saw that he was to meet us at 9:00 a.m. I did leave a message on Venice Apartments Mobile Phone Number (which was in Italian and I didn’t understand a word). Once I heard the “beep”, I left the message telling them where we were. We were all extremely tired, hot and all needed showers.

Promptly at 9 a.m. Amadeo came from around a corner and introduced himself to us. He was kind enough to pull the luggage for my oldest son. We went down two alleys. The second alley smelled awful. Like people used it for a bathroom (as my 2 oldest children yelled out quite loudly!) and then he stopped at the last door and I thought “Oh my, what have I rented for us? We’re staying in an alley with t his “urine smell”! I’m sure my husband has the same thoughts as he gives me this look that says it all after 20 years of marriage.

We enter the building and there is a tiny, tiny “lift”. It is clear glass. Husband went in it with all our luggage. When you are in this lift, you have to press and hold the button all the way up and/or down. I knew I wasn’t going to be in that elevator. I would feel closed in! Of course, it fascinated the kids!

We walked up several floors and a good 80 steps! The apartment looked better in person than on-line! Red everywhere. It is called Apartamento Red. 3 bedrooms. A/C that was COLD! Kitchen. An a view to die for on the rooftop balcony. From the balcony we were right on the edge of San Marco piazza (opposite St. Mark’s Basilica). We could see the Campanile Tower clearly. If you want to view what our apt. looks like, you can do so at http://www.veniceapartment.com. The service while booking was extremely efficient. I worked with “Vania”. Amadeo was great and gave us recommendations of things to do and oriented us to the apt.

All I can tell you is as soon as Amadeo left, daughter and husband totally crashed for about 3 hours on the sofas in the living room.

I set off to find the washer. I had to wash all the clothes. By the way, bottled shampoo worked great as “laundry detergent” since I had none. I did the first load and after everything stopped, pulled out the clothes and they were sopping wet! Oh my! They didn’t go through a spin cycle. So here I was stuck with with a load of wet laundry! I found the washer manual (in Italian of course) and started sifting through it. Well, I figured out that I had pressed a “no spin” option button (I guess) when I first started it. So I tried to figure out how to just get everything to “spin”. That didn’t work. I ended up washing that load 2 more times and then finally found the right setting. Well, all I had to do for the right know button was to select #9 and I got the spin cycle.

I couldn’t figure out where the clothes line was so I laid the clothes to dry out on the upper rooftop deck. Once I went up there, I was in awe. I ran down to grab the huge zoom lens and for the next 2 hours while doing laundry and sipping my cold water (I was dripping wet from sweat outside), I took about 400 pics. I was in heaven. The views were awesome. I could hear the sounds of church bells ringing ! It was so beautiful. I could hear the sounds of the crowd coming from San Marco.

Did I say that this apartment is beautiful? It is less than 10 meters walk to San Marco Piazza. If you walk from St. Marks Basilica to the other side of the piazza and under and out of the columns, you will see a Post Banke. Make a little right turn and immediate left (you will pass mailboxes). Then the next little alley is where the apt. is located (top floor (4th floor). Little did we know that this apt. would be our respite and haven from the brutal summer heat and the crowds.


I’ll make the rest very brief. Everyone finally got up! Walked out to San Marco Piazza. My sons were in having so much fun chasing all the pigeons. I have never seen so many of them in all my life! We walked down along the Grand Canal. Decided to have our first dinner out so we wanted to find Rialto. I looked at the StreetWise Venice Map I had purchased from Borders Bookstore before leaving home, but I was more confused looking at it (Note: my husband will just tell you that I flunked out of Map Reading Class in School and that’s why I need a GPS system to navigate). That map later, just became my “fan” during out stay in Venice since it was laminated. We wandered and thought we we were in Rialto (later I learned we were probably very close to Rialto, but still in San Marco. The restaurant we ate at was “Da Mario Alla Fava”. We ate outside under an umbrella. Ambience was great. The inside of restaurant was decorated with currency and pictures of the owner and people who had visited the restaurant (b&w) pics. And I saw several pics where the owner had run the Italian Marathon with his time posted. I saw him wandering around in a very hot pink polo shirt that evening. This meal was really “alright” for me. The kids just had spaghetti and seemed to enjoy it. A glass of milk ran 5,95 Euros a piece! I ate a flat pasta dish (it was a seafood dish) that was a recommendation from the server. I wasn’t quite sure what I was eating other than the shrimp and pasta, so for me it reminded me of an episode of “Fear Factor” ( I didn’t admit this to my family at the time). Some of it didn’t taste so great. Husband ordered a lamb dish----just “ok” for him. We asked for Pelligrino and were instead given Acqua Minerale with “gas”. A tiny bottle of that cost 4,50 Euros each. Cute place, but a thumbs down for me. As we walked away down another alley, I immediately saw a charming and quaint trattoria with better prices and yummy smells coming from it! I made a mental note of it for a possible future visit. We went through more alleys and passed by shops. Walked over the very crowded Rialto Bridge! Walked through San Marco piazza. Orchestras playing “The Sound of Music”. There I was having a vivid memory of Austria and Julie Andrews running through some field. The whole atmosphere at night is very cool. We found our apartment without to many problems....we just kept following the signs labeled "S. Marco".



7/16/07


Daughter and I got up around 8 a.m. Went around piazza San Marco. We had reservations for 9:55 to climb the Clock Tower (English speaking guide). We arrived at the Museum (literally a 20 second walk from our apt.---but we didn’t realize that for about 40 mins.) I purchased the tickets and made the reservations online before leaving home and they said to meet at some statue which we could not find! Finally, I asked a tour guide who was giving a walking tour and she kindly showed me where to get my tickets.

We got our tickets and had time to go through one of the museums to look at sculptures and artwork. The tour guide never came and we were waiting with others so we had to walk over to the actual Clock Tower alley and ring a doorbell to a door for it (off an alley near the basilica).

2,707 parts in that clock. It was cool. Tight spiral staircases to go up in. The view from the top was awesome. She let us hear one moor bang the bell and then we quickly ran down the stairs to see the parts of the clock in motion.

After the tour, daughter and I shopped. Husband and the boys were just getting up before noon! So we went shopping again to give them time to get ready.

Our plan for today: Treasure Hunt of Venice.

Prior to leaving home, I purchased I tiny little spiral notebook on Amazon.com.
It is called “Kids Go To Europe: A Treasure Hunt of Venice” by Ellen and Marvin Mouchawar.

You get points for visiting things. It asks simple questions to get you to think. You earn points for gelato visits. Looked for as many winged lions as you can...feed pigeons, extra points if a pigeon flies on your arm... what's a Doge, significance of the 2 tall, standing columns near Doge's Palace along the Canal.......the list goes on.

We had a blast doing this. It was simple and they had fun keeping track of points. Even my 4 y.o. participated some in this.

As part of our hunt, we did go up the Campanile Tower that we could see great views of Venice. We can see this Tower from our apt’s rooftop deck! 24 Euros to go up (our youngest was free).

We did go on a gondola ride with the kids around 5:30 p.m.

We had already scoped out a place for dinner (or I had). We went back to the apt. to chill out. Husband crashed for a while! I think the heat just takes so much out of a person!

Out to dinner. Tonite, we ate at Birreria AI Leonici (Calle Large, San Marco)..not far from the Basilica and not a far walk. Wow!!! Everything we ate was awesome. Good service. We walked away content tonite.

Walked through San Marco with the dueling orchestras. I noticed that our kids were the only ones around. I guess it's around 10:30 p.m.

Back to our apartment and went up to rooftop deck to hear the music and sounds of crowds from the piazza. We're sitting in the pitch black on that deck. It's totally cool.




7/17/07

Today, we took the Secret Itineraries Tour at Doges Palace. 9:55 am. tour booked and prepaid before we left through their website. You get to skip the long lines. Probably way over the boy's heads. But it was cool to go on. Very hot. Learned a lot about Casanova and the Doges. This was something I had wanted to do personally.

My husband is not one for tours in museums, churches, looking at art. He absolutely loved this Secret Itineraries Tour. Glad we did it....and my 2 oldest kids did get something out of it. 9 y.o. surprised me by asking the tour guide relevant questions.

We then went to----yes, the American Food/Cafe place right by the Basilica ($$$). Grabbed some hot dogs and sodas. We were going to find a water taxi to take to Murano for the glass blowing. We see a water taxi place and are offered a free ride on a very, very, nice water taxi. I warned Shawn we might be pressured to buy something for this “free ride”. Anyhow, they direct us to a man named Danieli. He was very polite. We got to go in the workshop area and observe them making a horse. It was soo cool to watch, but extremely hot in the area. Then we were directed to an area to look at Murano (in case we wanted to by). I walk all the way to the end and I cannot exit! The guy asked if we were interested in buying things. I politely declined (honestly nothing interested me other than that one piece I saw in a shop window our first nite (700 Euros--no I did not buy)! Then he directed us to another small shop by the exit in case we wanted something “smaller”. We're good at saying no.

Now, they gave us 2 passes to ride the vaporetto back when we got on this speed boat, however I lost it somewhere so we took the LONG WAY around on the Vaporetto. 9 y.o. son had a meltdown for a bit. 4 y.o. son spilled and lost a Orange Fanta soda behind something and I was sweating like crazy. But we saw a different part of Venice. The vaporetto went by Giudecca and we also saw the Redentore Church. How I wished on 7/14, we were there in Venice for the Redentore Feast and Celebration instead of on the sleeping train!

Then on our way off the vaporetto (by this point youngest childwas asleep), we let our 2 oldest kids purchase their own gelato and practice their Italian ...Daughter picked Limone and 9 y.o. son (always gets chocolate). We decided to get take-away from the restaurant we ate at last nite for tonite’s meal since we loved the restaurant. So we did that.

No going out tonite.

Ok...here’s a panic (on my end). The downside of this apt. is that the bedrooms have keys (on the inside) where you can lock yourself IN the bedroom. No other key can open the room from the outside. I was sitting on the couch and I heard my 9 y.o. son mention to his younger brother....let’s have a treasure hunt and I saw him carrying one of the keys. I told him to put it back. I could only imagine us not being able to locate this key. He did so. Within 2 minutes, My 4 y.o. son had locked himself in the bedroom and we could not get him! I of course was panicking ready to call the emergency number for the Apt. company! What seemed like an eternity was probably 10 mins. of husband trying to to talk our son into putting the key back in and turning it in the right direction.

He still does not think he did anything wrong! So, we placed towels above the doors so he could not close the doors and lock himself inside again!

Whew!

We watched Will and Grace in Italian. The voice of "Karen is perfect"

Tomorrow, Taj and Shawn go out to the Clock Tour at 9:55 a.m.

7/18/07

Today is our last day/evening in Venice.

Husband and 9 y.o. son went for their tour of the clock tower. When they got there they were the only ones registered for the English Tour at 9:55 a.m. so they got a real private tour!

When they got back to the apartment, they were sweating from the humidity outside and needed to cool down. Daughter and I went out and picked up (yes, Mickey D’s cheeseburgers).

We tried to hunt for cool t-shirts but weren’t too satisfied with anything we saw so we decided to look for something neat in Rome. 4 y.o. son had already told us he didn’t want a gondolier-type shirt so the idea for buying that was nixed!

When we got back to the apt. we were also suffering from heat exhaustion. We spent about 1 1/2 hours in the apt. and I decided we would all finally go to St. Mark’s Basilica. Everyday we have been here, the lines have been extremely long so I thought we would do it at a point where most people would be taking an early afternoon siesta from the heat! Wise move.

I think we waited only about 15 mins. Wow! What a beautiful basilica inside. We paid the 3 Euros each to go to the top to see the 4 horses. Some renovation being done on the outside of St. Mark’s.

What a treat, after coming back in, we heard and saw a boy’s choir singing in the basilica. Angelic sounds.

We then left the Basilica in search of yep.....more Gelato. Daughter and I had a Limone. Boys got their usual chocolate and husband got a caffe flavor. Daughter was not happy with her limone. She thought it was not “tart” enough.

We went exploring down more alleys for a while and then decided to head back to San Marco for another “chill” in the apt.

4 y.o. totally crashed. 2 oldest kids played with Legos. Husband was reading his book Time Management ....I forget who the author is.

After 8 p.m. We decide to wake up our little munchkin since we are hungry.

We didn’t want to wander off too far so we found a small ristorante in San Marco. Decent food.

Then off to find more Gelato. Youngest child wanted a soft cone from Mickey D’s so we got him that. We then wandered over to the piazza and walked along the Grand Canal. Took our final pics of Venice at nite. Wandered over to see the Bridge of Sighs and then took a turn down an alley where my daughter believes she found the BEST Limone Gelato. I’ll have to find the name of the place and post it.

We then walked back to listen to an orchestra while the kids push their brother in the stroller and vendors flash those red lights at nite to draw kids to them and of course, my 9 y.o. son wants to buy something but we redirect him back our way.

Back at the apt. it is now 11:02 p.m.

All 3 kids have showered and packed their backpacks. Husband and I will spend a bit packing up for our 9 a.m. check-out with Amadeo from Venice Apts.

We are now watching “Monk” in Italian. It’s an episode we’ve seen before. Pretty cool. The funniest show I have seen was Will & Grace because the Italian voice for the character “Karen” is a perfect match!

Venice is magical. I did not like the heat, crowds, the site of cruise ships, the crowded vaporettos. However, there's something neat about just getting "lost" and exploring and crossing bridge after bridge and taking things at a slower pace than I am used to. We live in an area of the country that has unbelievable rush hour traffic. I love having no cars. I love not having to drive. I like hanging my laundry out to dry in Venice.

7/19/07

Train leaves at 11:23 a.m. for Rome....

We checked out at 9 a.m. with Amadeo from Venice Apts. We loved this apartment so much and appreciated it being so very close to San Marco! The views were awesome from that rooftop deck. The a/c was much appreciated!

Let me back up and explained what happened while I was packing the nite before. I could not find the Reservation Pass for the Switzerland “Chocolate/Cheese Train Excursion”. I was going through absolutely everywhere for it. I think I kept thinking I shipped it back home with one of our post bank visits in Munich? So, I went to bed upset with myself. Husband just told me to get over it, but I knew the kids were looking forward to it. The boys are chocoholics.

We catch the Vaporetto #82 with all our stuff. Get off at the Ferrovia (train station stop). We get there and have over an hour till we leave. Husband goes in with our daughter to a buffet/food area to grab us some croissants, sandwiches, etc. to bring on the train.

We hop on our train with not too much difficulty. The kids love how the seats recline and there is so much space. I “try” to sleep. I did not sleep too well because I was hunting for a train pass last nite and husband jokingly keeps coming over and whispering in my ear “you’re not trying to sleep are you?” I think he works on his laptop and I can hear him taking pics for me while the train is moving. The boys share my video ipod to watch TV shows we purchased. 9 y.o. son learns how to do “cat’s cradle and eiffel tower” with string. This was a huge accomplishment for him so we take lots of pics.

We arrive in Rome at 15:55 p.m. We go to the very front of the train and there is a man holding up a sign with our hotel name and our last name. I arranged a service to bring us to the hotel so we would not have to hassle with anything.

We are staying in the Albergo Del Senato which is right beside the beautiful Pantheon. You can google their website and they have a web cam for 24 hours. We are staying in separate rooms #304 which has a great view of the Pantheon (where I am staying with our youngest child) and Husband and 2 oldest kids are in #308 which is right down the hall. I love this hotel. The location is perfect. The rooms are great. The service is perfect.

We get our stuff in the room and run outside to the fountain and in front of the Pantheon. We wanted to go in but find out it is closed for a “special event”. A lot of people are very upset. There are tv cameras and polizia cars everywhere. I grab my cell phone. My mother-in-law, Mimi in Pa. wanted me to call her from somewhere famous so I decide to call her. She hops on her computer and onto their live webcam and she sees me waving! We grab some gelato from a store nearby. My sons say the chocolate is heavenly and tastes like pudding! I try it and agree with them!

We hang out by the fountain for a while just people watching. Then we wander down to some alleys and find a small Italian trattoria and have a nice meal.

Back to the Pantheon area after getting lost down some streets. Sit by the fountain with the crowds for a few minutes. Get the kids ready for bed. By this time it is 11 p.m! We have to be up early for our tour of Vatican!

Weird being around “cars” after all the water in Venice. Those Vespa drivers are pretty crazy around here from what I’ve seen so far!

LCBoniti

What fun your trip report is! I love the parts from your daughter's journal. Please continue . . .