globetrekkingmama

After a delicious breakfast of instant oatmeal in the hotel room, we headed off to the Emerald Pools trailhead. Despite being sick coughing all night, June Bug did remarkably well on the hike. We made it to the lower and middle pools without any whining, although on the way back to the grotto, she was a bit tired. We caught the shuttle back to the lodge, had lunch, and took naps. For dinner, we headed back to the grotto picnic area via the shuttle where Pam worked her magic and prepared us another nice supper. We also had s'mores. but instead of regular chocolate bars, we had two thick, one-pound, chocolate bars, so getting the thick chunks of chocolate to melt was a challenge. David was successful, but he burned his graham crackers in the process. ... read more

As luck would have it, our last full weekend in Germany was also the weekend that our village was hosting Rheinland Pfalz Tag, a three-day county fair and entertainment spectacular. We started walking downtown at about 3 p.m. The weather was on the cold side, and there was a light, off-and-on rain. We walked past the big SWR TV stage that was filming and broadcasting the live entertainment. We headed for the “Sport and Games” festival which seemed like it would be the funnest area for a 4-year-old. Katherine was just thrilled because we were traveling towards the giant ferris wheel which had been set up for a couple of days, and was visible from our hilltop neighborhood, but had not been running until today. Katherine really wanted to ride, but it the wheel looked ... read more

Our Hotel- Locanda Conterie Europe » Italy » Venice By globetrekkingmama March 17th 2007 Sally Michaels We stayed at the Locanda Conterie in Murano which is the island just north of Venice. I think the island of Murano is just a picturesque as Venice, but a lot quieter. It was only 65 euros a night for a room that sleeps three. We had our own bathroom and a television. A lot of people have complained that the continental breakfast was horrible, just a pre-packaged croissant, but they do have a fancy coffee machine and juice is available. They also have dry cereal, but you have to eat it with hot, creamy milk. No cold milk. (In fact, we never found an... read more

Riding a water shuttle in Venice is a memorable experience. In fact, I still feel like I'm on one right now! (Is it just me or is the entire room swaying?) If you're headed to Venice, here are a couple of things you might like to know… Small kids ride for free. Three day passes last for 72 hours (not 3 calendar days, so we used ours from Friday evening to Monday afternoon). Water shuttle passes include transportation to outlying islands like Murano and Lido.... read more

Today we got up at 4:30 a.m. for final packing and routine grooming before we checked out of our hotel and headed to the airport at 5:30 a.m. Then we took a nine hour flight to the States. After shuffling through immigration, customs, and security, we had a couple of hours before our afternoon flight to Memphis. The last time we were in the States, June Bug was still in diapers, so she had never used an American toilet. I thought it was funny when she walked into the stall, looked at the toilet, and nervously yelled, “Why’s there so much water in there?!!!” I convinced her that despite their wasteful water consumption, American toilets are perfectly safe to sit on and use. Mom picked us up at the airport. When we arrived home, Heather came ... read more