On Monday morning, August 27th, Nolan and I took a bus to the train station then a train to the bus station then the bus for five hours south of Rome, south of Naples, south of Salerno....to what Milena described as a freeway off-ramp called Campotenese. This is where Milena's father was to pick us up! However...the bus was early, and we missed each other. Once again, the crazy mom who is dragging her almost-eight-year-old across Europe had thoughts of "what am I doing?" I'm standing on the side of the road, my cell phone doesn't have coverage, no one speaks [View Full Entry]

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This jetlag thing is allowing me time in the middle of the night to update the travelblog from our travel journals....don't know if that's a good thing or not! We arrived in Rome in the middle of the afternoon on Thursday, August 23rd to overcast skies but very warm temperatures - a sign of things to come! We opted to take a cab to Francesca's apartment, as I wasn't quite ready to look for the 90 express bus that we would later find drops you off a block away from the apartment and would become our main mode of transportation. Thank [View Full Entry]

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Well, we're home safe and all is well. I will update the travelblog from my notes since we were unable to locate internet cafes in Venice and Florence, and the one we found in Rome was not a great place to hang out! In Rotonda, Milena's father's computer had been sent in for service, so he offered his old iMac to check emails, but it was a tad bit slow, so travelblog updates were just not possible! So, we headed off on the train on August 19 from Gothenburg, waving a tearful goodbye on the railway platform to Elisabeth and Berndt. [View Full Entry]

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Once off the train in Venice, I was so glad to have everything in backpacks. We were able to walk to our bed and breakfast...only got lost once, so what should have taken 15 minutes was more like a 30 minute walk. Thank heavens we stopped for Gelato #1 right off the train, which gave us each a little boost. Getting lost in Venice is the status quo - thank heavens I had a map to figure out where I had taken the wrong turn! Our accommodations were very nice, and the staff was quite pleasant. We had a room off [View Full Entry]

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We arrived a bit rejuvinated in Florence, so I opted to walk from the train station to our hotel: address Piazza Duomo 1. It only took us 15 minutes to walk there, but the sidewalks were quite packed with tourists, and our backpacks were getting bigger and heavier as the days wore on. However, when you can see the Duomo not too far off, the hotel was not difficult to find. We were given the most amazing room on the top floor with a view of the Duomo, right out of our window...without needing to hang out of the window and [View Full Entry]

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So, we have returned from the land of legos! On Wednesday morning we took off on a ferry from Gothenburg to Frederikshavn, Denmark, which is a 3 1/2 hour trip. It was a bit of a rocky trip, so it was funny to walk around in a zig-zag pattern! Once in Denmark, we had a 3 hour drive to the vacation apartment where we were to stay on the south side of Jutland in Denmark. Here there was a swimming pool, trampoline, play area, a beach...a wonderful family destination place. Nolan was the only English speaking kid in the swimming pool, [View Full Entry]

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Hej from Sweden! Today's entry will be brief as we are off to bed a bit earlier so we can head off on the ferry to Denmark early in the morning. We spent most of the day shopping and searching around for fun little things. We started off in Kungälv to look for my favorite kitchen towels that remind me of Sweden every time I dry my hands after doing the dishwashing...what a wonderful way to end such a chore! We then headed off to Gothenburg for the afternoon. We begam at the train and bus station to secure our reservations [View Full Entry]

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We arrived safely yesterday afternoon, a bit weary, but very excited to be here! Nolan keeps saying over and over "I can't believe we're in Sweden!" We had a wonderful meal here last night...my aunt is famous for her meatballs. Nolan slept for 12 hours straight, and we awoke this morning to a beautiful blue sky and a wonderful Swedish morning. Today we are off for a few little excursions around the area where they live here outside of Gothenburg. We are closest to Marstrand which is a wonderful old community we will reach by ferry, and we hope to visit [View Full Entry]

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Hej, fran Sweden! Today we took a ferry to the local town of Marstrand, which is a small sailing community on an island not far from where we are staying. There we toured through one of the two old forts that guarded the area over 400 years ago. We had great fun climbing up into the tower and searching through the secret tunnel system under the fort. We saw areas where the prisoners were kept, the blacksmiths "cell", the kitchen, the church and many cannons. Afterwards we walked around the town and Nolan had his first Swedish ice cream..."glass"...there will be [View Full Entry]

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