NINA There's never enough to time to enjoy a place that you love. We missed a few must do's on this visit but that just begs another visit in the future. Doug and I loved that our kids "got it," the overlapping histories, art, architecture, the food of course, and the warm hospitality of the Romans. They absorbed a lot, and rarely complained about walking all over the place for hours (a promise of gelato did the trick every time!). They also appreciated that Rome is such an international and multicultural city, maybe even more so than San Francisco. They'll go home with some stereotypes of course -- Filipinos were mostly domestics or salespeople at little stores, male Indians sold the splat pigs (you'll have to ask Cy about them), and male Africans sold fake designer bags. But that makes them realize how lucky they are that our family is together, living in the same home in the same town, unlike many of the transplants they encountered in Rome. And we truly feel lucky to be able to do this together, and in celebration of our 20 years.
A European trip isn't complete without a train ride. So we hopped on the Eurostar on First Class (kids were very excited about that), and rode through the Tuscan and Veneto countryside with station stops in Florence, Bologna, and Padova. Wish we had more time so we could have stopped in those cities!
The Train to Venice
CY The train was fun. We were in first class. We got food and drinks. The train was EUROSTAR. The train ride was 3 hours long so we read, we slept, we played cards (Hearts and James Bond). In Hearts both my mom and dad shot the moon!!! (its complicated.) We stopped in Balonga (not bologna), Florence, and Padova. It was fun to ride the train. I looked at economy class and it sucked so badly. Just kidding!!!! (but seriously!!)
It is always good to be wishing for more time!
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