Who BBQs with a Hairdryer?

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I will get to the title in a little while. However, if I had to compare this summer's holidays with last summer's holidays, it is clear that this summer, things went by without a hitch. For this we are thankful. The only down side of the trip to Italy was that France and Italy love to gouge your eyes out when you are driving on their highways. For example, the trip back today, from Lucca, Italy to Geneva cost us approximately 100 Euros. And this does not include gas money. On the way back, we did not go through the Mont Blanc tunnel. Just to go through the tunnel costs 35 Euros. I thought that I would outsmart the highway system. We took the A32 through Torino, Italy - only to discover that we had to go through another tunnel. Yes, you guessed it - it cost us another 35 Euros. I guess Italy/France sure showed me. I am looking forward to getting back to Alberta where we don't have to pay and stop frequently to pay to drive on the highways.

Don't get me wrong, we really enjoyed our time in Italy. We had a great time and we were able to discover some new and amazing places. The only problem for me - it was too hot. Avery loved the heat, but me - not so much. Over our 2 weeks in Italy, it was always between 30 to 35 degres Celcius. I am looking even more like a redneck now!

We started our adventure in Verona, Italy. It was here that we met Alberto. He is the cousin of my co-worker Andrea. It was a blessing to spend time with him and he was a great tour guide. He gave us a little driving tour of Verona. We really liked the charm of this small city. He took us to a couple of high places - Castel San Pietro and Santuario Signora Di Lourdes - to get a great view of the city. From there, we disovered the Ponte Pietra. This is the rock bridge and it was the first bridge built in Verona. Afterwards, we had to stop for some ice cream. What would a trip to Italy be without some gelato? We had to gobble up the ice cream because it was so hot. After the ice cream, we did some walking around and we were able to make it to the Casa Di Giulietta. This is partly where they filmed the movie, "Letters to Juliet."

After navigating through the busy area around Juliet's balcony, we decided to go for supper. You guessed it - pizza. What would a trip to Italy be without having some pizza. We went to the restaurant La Fontana and met Elena there. At the restaurant, I ordered a meat pizza called BUSI. This was the first pizza that I ever had that had sliced hot dogs on the pizza. I must admist that the pizza was rather tasty.

Of course, the meal took a long time, so by the time that we got back to the hotel, it was almost 10:00 pm. Getting late for the kids. The next day Alberto had to work, so we were on our own in discovering more of Verona. We started the day at the church San Zeno. We really liked how this church was built, along with the frescoes that were painted on the inside of the church. Afterwards, we went to the Arena - the Roman Ampitheatre, but we decided not to go in because we had already seen the Roman Coliseum in Rome. After lunch, we checked out the Castle Bridge and then found a playground and a little pool for the kids to play in.

We had a whirlwind stay, but an enjoyable time in Verona. Tuesday morning, we were off to Venice. It was not a long drive, however, we were a little confused about where we needed to park so that we could take the boat into Venice. Avery and I have always wanted to go to Venice so we were excited to see the city. In Venice we stayed at a beautiful hotel and the A/C was a welcome feature after our long trek getting there. We parked our car at Fusina and then took the boat from there to Zattere - in Venice. That was fine, except we later learned that Zattere was on the oppopsite end of Venice from our hotel. So, we got off the original boat, got onto another boat and then got off at Rialto. We then walked from Rialto to our hotel with 2 kids, a stroller and a huge suitcase. This would be fine in any normal city. Venice is not a normal city. There are canals everyone. How does one cross these canals? By bridge. The problem with the bridges is that you have to climb steps and then go down steps. From Rialto to our hotel, we probably crossed 10 bridges. The process went something like this: I went up the stairs with Isabelle and the suitcase. Then I helped Avery lift the stroller up the stairs. Myles was asleep in the stroller by this time. Down the stairs it was the same story, Isabelle and the suitcase down first and then the stroller with Myles sleeping. After this song and dance numerous times, we finally made it to our hotel where we enjoyed a siesta. Much deserved!

We really enjoyed our hotel. They had a beautiful chandelier that was made on one of the islands not too far from Venice. The island is called Murano. They are famous for their blown glass there. Needless to say, we did a side trip to this island to check out some shops and the glass museum. Now, we have a new set of glasses that we can enjoy, after being inspired by this island.

Our other side trip from Venice was to go to the island of Lido. The purpose of Lido - the beach. We were able to do a little swimming in the Mediterranean/Adriatic Sea and the kids were able to build some sand castles. On the island of Lido, things returned a little more to normal. There were actually cars on the island. The neat thing about Venice was that everything was done by foot or by boat. Taxis, the ambulance, the police, delivering of goods - all done by boat. Venice was such a unique city and one that we were glad that we had the opportunity to visit. We did some walking around as well - sometimes without the stroller, as this was easier to cross the canals. We saw St. Mark's Square and pretty much everything else that we wanted to see.

A couple of funny things in Venice. This is where Isabelle started saying, "Boy something stinks." We call her the nose now. Ever since then, at least on a daily basis, Isabelle will say, "Something stinks." Most of the time she is right, but sometimes, she is imagining a stink. Also, on one of the buildings in Venice, someone spray-painted, "Stop the War." To which someone added an "m" after war. The message now reads, "Stop the Warm." This was funny for 2 reasons. The first, it was quite hot in Venice so the message was to the point. The second, I like to complain about the heat, so Avery thought that this message/quote was tailored just for me. I guess that you had to be there!

After we knew what we were doing in Venice, the voyage back to the car was rather painless. We bid adieu to Venice and then made our way to Florence for one night. This was our least favorite city that we have seen in Italy. However, we were really impressed with Michelangelo's David. That was definitely worth seeing. It looked life-like. I would recommend seeing it. After our quick romance with Florence, we made our way to Lucca. This is where we spent the last week of our time in Italy. The purpose of our time in Lucca was to relax. We rented an apartment style accomodation that had a pool. The kids would wake up around 6:00 am every morning and one of their first questions was when they were allowed to go into the pool.

The week in Lucca was nice and relaxing. We spent a lot of time at the pool, but we were able to see a few things as well. We started out by seeing the leaning tower of Pisa. This was a neat structure to see. It turned out that the only reason that we ended up seeing this tower was because we had to venture out and buy some coffee for Avery. Our hotel/apartment didn't have coffee and Avery needs her morning coffee. So, we drove into Pisa for the coffee and in the process we saw the leaning tower.

A couple days later, we drove into Lucca - our hotel was in the country just outside of Lucca - to rent a family bike and ride around the walls of the old city. This was a fun thing to do. The wall of the city is about 4 km around, so we were able to get some good views of Lucca. After riding around the wall, we walked into the centre of the old town to climb the Guinigi Tower. This is a famous tower in Lucca that has 230 steps. The impressive thing about the tower was that Myles and Isabelle climbed up and down all by themselves. We were proud of them. That meant that we didn't have to carry them.

Another 2 days later we drove to a beach at Viareggio. This was a good day as well. However, I must say that I prefered our pool to the beach. At the pool, there was not sand blowing around and we didn't get sand in everything. I guess that I am a pool guy!

Finally, doing a bbq with a hairdryer. Before we arrived at our place in Lucca, I was excited because I knew that they had a bbq. After one year in Europe, I should have known that this would not be the same as a bbq back home. To bbq here, I had to buy coal and a lighter type liquid to squirt on the coal. I then had to wait 5 minutes for the liquid to be absorbed by the coal. I then had to light the coal with a small lighter. I burned myself a few times. Once most of the coals were lit, I had to stir the coals to spread the fire. Then, I had to use Avery's hairdryer to spread the fire even more and get the coals red hot. We bbqed 3 times. The prep time just to get the bbq going was at least 30 minutes. On the last night that we did a bbq, I prepared the bbq - which took 30 minutes - only to cook hot dogs and shrimp for 5 minutes. It was definitely not as easy as turning on the propane and cooking.

One last story that pertains to our trip returning from EuroDisney. When we were driving home, we hit a pretty bad storm. We couldn't see too well because it was raining so hard. That is when Isabelle started saying, "Jesus calms the storm." Myles and I joined in by repeating that phrase a few times and lo and behold, after 2 minutes, it was clear sailing. At that moment, I was reminded of the importance of childlike faith. What Isabelle and Myles asked for, they received.

I must say that it was nice to return "home" to Avully. We were happy to be back in Switzerland. We now have 3 more days to get things ready to come home. Isabelle has been saying a fair bit that she is so excited to go back to Canada.

I am too.

Jarod

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Photos

Verona - Lourdes
A nice picture - if Myles was looking.

Juliet's Balcony.
This is not Avery.

Juliet's Statue.
Her breasts are shiny. Supposedly, if you touch them you will have good luck with romance.

San Zeno.
We liked the construction of this church as well as the frescoes.

Lucca Apartment.
Myles had to help with the dishes.

San Zeno.
This was in the Crypt of the church.

Verona.
This contraption was neat that they had set up.

Eating with toothpicks.
An homage to Pops.

Murano.
An example of the many bridges.

Comments

[Debbie Bocian]

Welcome back!
My operation on my knee is now Sept.18th-I will be off work until January.In August Geoff and I go to Vienna, Hungary and Croatia. I always loved reading your blogs. Your photos were awesome. See you in early Sept. Safe Travels- Debbie Bocian

[Ingie Letendre]

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[Amy]

I remember the heat in Italy....
...though, when WE were there, it was between 39 and 45 degrees celsius every day! (The pharmacia signs were only too happy to remind us of the climbing temps as we walked each day. :)) Glad you survived. I'll be praying for safe travels for you and your family as you journey home. :)

[justin]

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