Departure day! Sad that the trip is over, but I think we’re all ready to go home. They needed to clean our flat for the incoming guests, so we packed up early (leaving our luggage) and went out for breakfast. Had some nice pastries in a French bakery (not as good as the ones that were in Paris, but still pretty good). Went on a brief hunt for magazines and were amused to find that they don’t seem to sell magazines in drug stores or book stores in London. We did eventually find a news stand by a tube station, but not an extensive selection. We moved on, confident there would be plenty of time and selection at Heathrow. Stopped by an intereresting sidewalk market on the way home where they were selling a wide variety ... read more

Up early to clean up and say farewell to our lovely Paris flat. Still raining off and on as we trudged down the street with our luggage towards the taxi stand. We figured a taxi would be the most reasonable way to get to the train station for our Chunnel-train back to London, but the rain apparently had caused a taxi shortage. A day earlier there had been a long line of cabs, but this morning we waited for 20 minutes (nervously looking at our watches) and nothing. Eventually we decided to go with plan B and take the metro. Very efficient and worked quite well although hauling luggage up and down stairs was a bit of a workout. Made it to the train station with enough time left to not feel rushed. Bid au revoir ... read more

Full day in Paris. We woke up around 9 and enjoyed a breakfast and coffee at home. The flat is a wonderful refuge and the functional coffeemaker was a big hit with Sonia. The kids enjoyed playing on the computer as the parents planned for the day. We had run out of steam a bit in the trip planning and Paris is really not that well planned-out for us. We checked our email and realized we had fraudulent credit card charges on one of our cards (sadly, we didn’t really find this terribly surprising after our experience in Rome). Cancelled that card and then back out into the world. We started by braving the Paris Metro. A short trip took us to the Arc de Triomphe which is quite impressive. We then backtracked down the Champs-Elysees ... read more

Last day in Rome - We slept in till nearly 10. Our carefully constructed itinerary included a trip out of the city to see some ancient ruins that were particularly well preserved and apparently give a strong sense of Roman life ~2000 years ago. However, as we stared at each other, bleary-eyed and somewhat aching, we decided to opt for a plan B. We had more good coffee, this time in front of the Pantheon and then resolved to head to Piazza del Popolo and into the Villa Borghese (former estate, now park space). Rome is hot and dry and there is almost nothing green and growing in it, so we thought the park might offer some respite from the concrete jungle. Andrew planned the route so that he could re-visit Trevi fountain and we subsequently ... read more

Second day in Rome. Slept past nine and it was hot when we woke up. Cleaned ourselves up and headed back to Piazza Navona for “breakfast” of croissants (called by their Italian name cornetas) and very tasty coffee. We took it slow and lingered at the shaded breakfast table, ordering a second course of pastries and coffee before heading off towards the Colosseum. The walk was a little bit over a mile, but we took it slowly and deliberately as we stopped at many sites and made an effort to keep ourselves in the shade. On the way we passed through many parts of the city, including the impressive Piazza Venezia. Around every corner was the juxtoposition of the archeological and the functional. Ancient buildings originally exquisitely carved and constructed of massive marble and concrete sit ... read more