Playing Catch Up

Since my last entry. A lot has gone on.

I guess I should start with our trip to Rome in early November.
Thanks to the tip from Giovanna, the Italian Liason at Tom's clinic, we went to see Andrea Bocelli in the Piazza del Polpolo in Rome. It was a national holiday, and the minister of defense put on a free concert featuring the famous tenor. It has been a wish of mine to see Andrea live. So, my wonderful husband took us along with our friend Cindy Harvey and her 2 girls (it was Cindy's Birthday that day) to Rome for the weekend. I was on cloud 9!

The only bummer about is was that since it was free, there were about 30,000 other people in the piazza, and in keeping with Italian tradition, very little personal space was allowed. But, I was about 75 yards away from Signore Bocelli and we had a big screen right in front of us. I was still a happy girl. (The blurry figure in the center of the picture is Andrea) We stayed for about an hour, our feet were hurting, and the 4 girls had reached their limit.

To finish off the weekend, we got another good taste of true Italian living, and had to deal with a transportation strike. Imagine being in Rome and having no buses, Metro or trains. Since we trained up the day before, getting home was going to be a challenge. Instead of fighting with all the other people fighting to get on the few trains they allowed in the evening for commuters, we rented a car and drove home. Viva Italia!

Taking advantage of the 4 day weekend for Thanksgiving, we went to Umbria (the region east of Tuscany). Again we went with Cindy Harvey, but this time her husband, Doug, was home and able to come. We went to Assisi, Montefalco, Cortone, Gubbio, and Norcia.

St. Francis Basilica, Assisi

Taking in the View in Gubbio.

Victoria in Cortona (Under the Tuscan Sun location)

Along with visiting these towns for their beauty, we also ate at some restaurants who belong to the Unione del Buon Ricordo ( The Union of Good Memories). When you eat the special dish, usually typical of that area, you also receive a commemorative plate. Doug and Cindy introduced us to this, and I must say, we are hooked. Now, when we travel, going to a "plate restaurant" will always be considered. We now have 4, and that number will grow quickly.

Our First Plate, We are so proud! With us is the owner of the restaurant, Giovanni.

The next big event was Anabelle's 6th birthday on December 14th. She started her big day opening a plethora of gifts from the family. As you can see from the pictures below, she did not like any of them.

We had a very lazy afternoon, then headed to the bar for Anabelle's party. I know, that sounds inappropriate, but in Italy, bars are not only alcohol, they mainly serve coffee and pastries. This particular bar has a room in the back that they rent out for functions. So, we shelled out the euro, and had the party catered. We also hired a girl we know, Mariangela, to entertain the kids. All 23 (mostly Italian) kids had a ball playing games and dancing. My only job was to socialize with the other mom's there. I didn't lift a finger from start to finish. It was the best party EVER!

The last couple of pictures are of the girls when we took some pictures to send with our Christmas cards. They are beautiful (and goofy) if I do say so myself.

Well, I need to get to cleaning my house and besides, any pictures taken after that are still on our camera. So, once my lazy behind gets them downloaded, I will finish the update. See Ya!

I have no time!

Sorry for the lack of blog entries in the last couple of months. As I am sure with most of you, the holiday season gets very busy. In order for me to get an entry done, I need a good few hours to do it. I haven't had the free time in the last month. Hopefully, this week I will. I have lots of great stuff to tell everyone, so please be patient.
Hope you had a very Merry Christmas and your New Year will be as fabulous as we hope ours will be.
God Bless you all.
Leslie

Zu Deutschland, zu Österreich und zur Rückseite Wieder

Does anyone know what that says? Well, since I had to use Babel Fish (great translation website) to write it, I guess I can let you know. It simply means "To Germany, Austria and Back Again".

We recently returned from our trip to Bavaria and the greater Salzburg area. It was a fabulous time.

We started off on Sunday, September 21, with an overnight stop in Modena to break up the long drive. No, we did not buy any vinegar. But, we did get to see a small town Medieval festival. Everyone was dressed in period costumes, with music, crafts and food from that time. It was an unexpected treat to stumble upon while there. The Ferrari factory is not too far away, but we did not make it over there. I couldn't fit one in the back of the car, so I figured we'll come back and pick one up another time..... HA!

Monday, we drove up to Austria to a small town just south of Salzburg where we stayed while in that area. The pension was beautiful, and super clean, and the staff (family) were more than accommodating. The highlight of that evening was dining at a Chinese restaurant. Just what we drove to Austria to do! Not really our first choice, but since all other restaurants within walking distance of our hotel were closed on Mondays, we ate there.

Tuesday, we hopped on the train and went to Munich for Oktoberfest. It was "family day" and supposedly one of the less crowded days at the festival. If that were true, I would hate to be there on a busy day.

We had lunch in the Hofbrau "tent" with about a thousand of our closest friends. These structures are unbelievable! I will post a picture of it at the end. We found a place at one of the tables, and had real German fare and a liter of beer. Even Tom drank one! He figures, when in Rome...I mean Munich... There was a band and after every song, everyone sang a toasting song. We "prost"ed with everyone at our table. It was quite fun and everyone was in a festive mood. After lunch, we walked around the rest of the fairgrounds. We rode some rides, played some games, and ate some treats. After our wallets were empty, we headed for home. We had a great time, but I don't know if I would go again. But, we can check off one more thing in our 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.

Wednesday, we took a bus tour to the salt mines near Berchtesgaden. We have been there before, but Anabelle was only 6 months old. We thought it would be fun for the girls to do again.

The bus dropped us off right across the street from Mirabell gardens in downtown Salzburg. A lot of the scenes from the "Do, Re, Mi" song in The Sound of Music were filmed there. The girls are big fans of the movie, so they enjoyed singing and acting things out.

Thursday, we drove out into Bavaria to the town of Oberammergau. My intention was to buy a nativity set from there. They are well known for their wood carvings. But.....I was not willing to pay 200-300 Euro PER FIGURE for it. Now, the set I was looking at was one of the larger ones, but I didn't want a tiny set. The town is very cute, and well worth a stroll around, and I did go into a Christmas shop and bought a nutcracker and smoker to add to my collection. So, Leslie is now a happy girl.

On our way home, we stopped in Ettal, where there is a beautiful monastery. We walked around there for a while, then bought some wine and beer that they produce. Gotta support the brothers!

Friday, we drove over to Chiemsee, and took a ferry over to an island where King Ludwig II built, or was in the process of building, the palace, Herrenchiemsee. He was making a replica of Verseille, but didn't finish it because he ran out of money. How does a king run out of money!!!! Anyway, we took a tour of the palace and got to see some of the unfinished part. It was very interesting. The grounds of course were beautiful, and we had good weather, so we did a lot of walking around.

That evening we went to The Sound of Salzburg dinner show. We ate mediocre banquet food and saw a corny show, but the girls enjoyed it, so it was worth it. The singers were very talented, so I can't completely trash it, but my suggestion is to avoid it if you are ever in Salzburg.

Saturday, we went to Schloss Hellbrunn, right outside of downtown Salzburg. It is a palace built by a Prince Archbishop back in the early 1600's. The main attraction of this palace is the trick water fountains. The prince got is kicks from getting his guests wet as they walked through the gardens. He even had a table outdoors that squirted water out of the seats and table and got his guests soaked. Of course his chair did not come with a water feature. It was a chilly and damp morning, so the girls were not able to get wet, so that was a bummer for them.

To redeem the day, we walked over to the palace zoo. While there, the sun decided to come out, so the rest of the day was gorgeous.

We walked the rest of the grounds and saw the gazebo from none other than......The Sound of Music. We took the obligatory pictures in front of it and found a wonderful playground where the kids frolicked for a while. You got to hand it to the Germans/Austrians, they make some beautiful parks and playgrounds.

Sunday, we went up to the fortress in Salzburg. We got to see some gorgeous views of the city with the snow capped Alps in the background.

We ate lunch at a wurst stand, walked around the town, and watched some street performers. Some of them were really awesome. That afternoon, Anabelle and I went back to the hotel to start packing, and Victoria and Tom took a gondola to the top of the Untersburg Mountain, which was very close to where we were staying. Leslie doesn't care for heights all that much, so I was glad to pass on that one.

Monday we headed back to Italy. We stopped in Vicenza where there is an Army base. We stayed at the Lodge on base and ate some American comfort food (fast food).

We were back home by Tuesday evening, and I have been working semi-hard since then to get everything washed and/or put away.

That area of the world is one of our favorites. You could probably tell since we have been to either Germany and/or Austria 5 times in our collective 3 years in Europe. We will probably go back again. There is still so much to see and do. Hope you enjoyed my recap of our trip. Sorry it was so long.

Con molto affetto, mit vieler Neigung,

The Moore Family