The Return of the Return of the Double Decker Bus

Alisa had meetings in Milan, so she left after breakfast.

Since it had been 5 days since their last double decker bus, the boys were going into withdrawal.  So we found out where the closest double decker bus would be and headed out mid-morning.

The schedule was less frequent and we missed a bus just as we were walking to the stop.  Joey and Sammy dealt with this amazingly well and spent most of the time waving to the cars driving by (with a remarkably high response rate).

After what felt like all day, the bus arrived and we were able to ride the top through the north of the city.  We eventually arrived at the Castello Sforzesco, an imposing castle originally home to the Sforza's but occupied by the Hapsburg regimen, Napoleon's army, and the Holy Roman Empire (among others).

Today it is a centerpiece of Milan and houses 7 museums, libraries, archives, and artwork.

The official site of the Castello is here (and can be translated to English by choosing your language in the upper right corner):
http://www.milanocastello.it/en/edificio-voci/4/98
This provides a thorough history and interesting information.

We spent most of the day around the Castello and Lanna had a fantastic time walking around.

The boys admired the huge turrets and, of course, the pigeons that dotted the large open spaces.

The kids needed some gelato to recoup the energy spent in the Castello, after which we sauntered through the pedestrian walkway and explored the side streets.  Joey and Sammy admired another Ferrari.

Since we were going to Brescia that afternoon to meet up with Simone's parents, we awaited the bus to return to the apartment.

Alisa had finished her talk and meetings and we headed out for Brescia.

Beppe and Lidia once again warmly welcomed us.  We met them at BB Farms, a location where they obtain high quality grains and produce to create healthy food for livestock. Their website is here:
http://bbfarmspa.wix.com/bbfarmspa#!home-page/c61v

Joey loved it!  He saw a few of their 7 big rigs along with some enormous tractors.  He tried some authentic corn flakes as well which he reported as "Really crunchy!"

They showed us an excellent store for Italian leather shoes and then took us out to dinner.  Beppe played with Sammy while Lanna and Lidia charmed each other.

Before we knew it, the hour was late and we had to return to Milan. Rain poured down as we went out to the cars (for which Lidia and Beppe borrowed umbrellas from the restaurant to ensure we were covered on the walk to the car).  They guided us to the highway and we honked goodbye before we drove back for our last night in Milan.

Delicious Milano (not the cookies)

We spent a relaxing morning at the apartment near Lake Garda, enjoying the playground despite a light rain. We then headed off to Milan for our final stop in Italy! We had booked an apartment through AirBnB and arranged a time to meet our host. Of course, as we were driving into Milan, he texted that he would not be able to be there to meet us, but that he had left the keys with the concierge. Life is always more complicated when you don't speak the language in the country... and alas, this was one of those cases. We miraculously found a tiny parking space right in front of the apartment, and I hopped out to find the concierge. I easily found her, but she spoke only Italian - no English, French, Spanish, or German. After several failed attempts (which almost made me give up and decide I had the wrong place), we did manage to successfully communicate that I was renting an apartment and could she let me in. She did! All was well, and just as we were leaving the apartment to explore Milan, our host did show up. He was incredibly nice (and the first Italian Leonardo that we met). He tried to help us pay the special Milan driving tax required for bring a car in the city. However, after we paid the 5 Euro, he realized that since our license plates are French we did not have to pay. He also mentioned essentially that there is no way that the Italians will ever track us down for any traffic infringements. If only we'd known earlier, we would have driven incredibly fast and skipped the numerous and expensive tolls on Italian highways!

The boys were excited to check out an old game of Connect Four, which was missing the critical stand to hold up the playing board. The game wasn't as exciting as pretending the Connect Four pieces were money and performing various tricks so that I would throw the money into their hats. Sammy was quite possessive of his "money," especially when Lanna tried to eat it.

There was still a light rain, so we headed out in our rain gear. The boys enjoyed their new umbrellas, purchased from the market near Katherine's apartment in Rome. We definitely got our 12 Euro worth so far from that purchase. Joey has the Ninja Turtles, and Sammy has Spiderman (not pictured, since he was being carried by Jay who was also using said Spiderman umbrella).

We walked and walked through the streets of Milan, passing by the famous opera house La Scala and a statue of Leonardo DaVinci. We then decided to take a shortcut to the Duomo square through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, listed online as 

A 18th century structure it now encompasses the most expensive restaurants and stores as well as is the connecting link between Duomo and La Scala. You might not be the one who could get a front seat at the Milan Fashion Week, but surely can visit all the cream of the crop stores such as Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Prada, Valentino, etc.

We would never even consider fancy shopping or Milan Fashion week even without our three children, but we really enjoyed walking through the Galleria and admiring the fancy (Mercedes store) and not so fancy (toy cars in a memorabilia shop) good. We also enjoyed being out of the rain!

I decided to try out my arm as a selfie-stick for Joey, Lanna and me. Then Jay and Sammy squeezed into the picture too! As you can see, I look completely crazed with the pressure of fitting all of us into the photo! And there is some random guy stuck in the background...

We then passed through the Galleria into the Duomo square and marveled at the size of the Duomo!

We did not brave the lines to get tickets to go in, as we were wet, tired, and hungry. But we did enjoy the square, which was FULL of pigeons! This is mostly because there were men there with seeds to feed them. One of these men trapped Joey, who did really want to feed the pigeons, and gave him some seeds to hold in his hand. Joey was immediately flooded with pigeons who at the seeds out of his hand. This man unfortunately did not provide this service for free as a good samaritan, and he clearly needed to be paid. We looked at our available change and gave him 1.5 Euro, which I thought was decent for a handful of seeds and a few minutes work. After all, feeding the birds in Mary Poppins only cost tuppence (2 cents) a bag. Even with inflation, 1.5 Euro for a handful seemed appropriate. He expressed his extreme lack of satisfaction at how little we paid him, but luckily he stopped after only a sentence that did not involve any foul language. We now will make a stronger effort to avoid the pigeon seed men.

We rebounded from that experience with a Duomo selfie. Jay is looking a little more crazed than usual here, It seems like whoever is trying to take a picture of 5 people (including 3 kids) with just an arm as a tool winds up with a crazy expression. Maybe we should just buy a selfie stick after all (although we did hear that more people died in selfie stick related accidents than from shark attacks this year).

After one last Duomo panorama (with the Galleria on the left), a little song and dance from the boys with their umbrellas, and we headed off to dinner.

We trudged through the rain, past our apartment, to a steak restaurant recommended as the best steakhouse in Europe by my cousin Mike Borkan. We got there just a few minutes after 7 and were the first ones there (they still were setting up). This was ideal for us, since the kids could drive their cars and Lanna could toddle about without disturbing anyone else. We ordered the T-bone, which was reported to be gigantic, and split it amongst the 5 of us (with a salad to assuage our guilt). It was incredibly delicious and enjoyed by all!

We then took our full stomachs home for a good night's rest.

Hello Salò!

We awoke the next morning feeling as if it were the first day of summer despite the fact it was early October.

Immediately after breakfast, Joey and Sammy ran out to the playground with Lanna trailing behind, utilizing her dynamic lurching, zombie style walk.  Being the only kids in the entire area, they climbed, swung, teeter-tottered and ran around with joyful abandon.

Beppe had recommended to visit Salò, a small lakefront town a few kilometers north. 

In the future, I planned on following any of Beppe's recommendations.  

It certainly didn't hurt that the crisp fall morning had evolved into a warm and brilliant day, more reminiscent of summer than any other season.

This quiet and beautiful lake front town boasts on of the longest waterfront walks in Italy.  We started off near the far end and the boys acquainted themselves with some swans (who did not want to be disturbed).

After leaving the swans in peace, we enjoyed the view of the town.

Fortunately nobody fell in walking near the water, although it was a challenge!  The lake was so clear and full of lazily swimming trout, it was hard to keep your focus on the promenade. 

Since we missed the chance for a boat ride in Cassis, the boys were eager to ride a boat here.  Given it was a gorgeous, windless day, we were able to get tickets for a short lake cruise.  

Although we had heard amazing things about Sirmione (the small finger of land that goes out into the southern part of the lake that's not quite an isthmus and not quite a promontory and definitely not an archipelago), the boat wasn't going there.

Still, the boys delighted to see our boat arrive and they rushed on board and found seats in the bow.

Joey, having a fondness for pirates and bossing people around quickly assumed the role as Cap'n Joey, the fiercest 5 year old of Garda.

We quickly arrived at Gardone, another beautiful lakeside town.

The next stop was Moderno.  

Although brief, our time on the water was glorious.  The views of the northern part of the lake were amazing as we rounded a point towards Moderno.

Moderno was fine, although the lunch was by far the worst we had in Italy but fortunately the service was bad nearly causing us to miss the return trip.

The ride back was excellent as well and we quickly found ourselves back at the Salò dock.

There just so happened to be a gelato shop and we just so happened to enjoy their fine selection of gelato.

On the long walk back on the promenade, we did some window shopping.  There was Lake Garda hat that caught our attention but decided against it.  It certainly captured Lake Garda's geography but we thought it might possibly be misinterpreted.

The boys met Sofia on the walk back, a visitor from New Zealand who shared the same passion of chasing pigeons and throwing rocks into the water.

Fortunately it was a short ride back to the lake house and time to return to the play area.  Joey decided to practice his soccer, more precisely, he practiced his celebration after scoring goals.  

He modeled it after seeing some highlights of Totti who would pull his shirt over his head.  Joey's got potential for both goal scoring and over the top celebrations.

We all had a relaxing evening as we prepared to head to Milan the next day.

Time to head north.

The Roman holidays came to an end.  We bid a sad farewell to Katherine and Ella, the city of Rome and drove north.

On the way we stopped at the ancient hilltop city of Orvieto. During our drive back from Umbria (when the traffic jam actually allowed for driving), there were several of these old cities visible from the freeway dotting the hillside.

After navigating the winding roads and old cobblestone streets, we had a chance to experience their view:

Not too shabby.

We had chosen Orvieto for a few reasons.  The first is the amazing history of this town.  The second is their Duomo.  And the third is their excellent ceramics.

This hilltop town has existed for well over 2000 years, having been part of the Etruscan empire before being incorporated into the Roman empire (and apparently Julius Caeser was the last one to be able to truly conquer the town). There are extensive tunnels underneath the city as well. It has a rich history, having housed a pope or two in addition to Thomas Aquinas.

The walk up was steep.  We navigated through the small streets and walkways into the main pedestrian areas filled with ceramics.  

The Duomo remains a distinctive and beautiful cathedral.  We saw it after slowly ascending one of the pedestrian walkways.

And yes, this square had its share of pigeons as well.  The boys admired the Duomo's golden facade, it's black and white colors, and then took off after a cluster of pigeons 30 feet away.

Joey came back for a quick solo shot before dashing off again.

Lanna, being stuck with me in the baby bjorn, had no choice but to join me in this selfie.  She was a good sport about it.

Once the surrounding area of the Duomo was pigeon free, we explored some of the ceramic shops that had been well rated.  Alisa stayed, since it has been a goal of hers to have beautiful, authentic, and commemorative ceramics.  I knew she would choose some excellent items, so I took the kids for another gelato.

As an aside, there really is no bad gelato choice. Sammy had become an aficionado of Frutti de Bosco, Joey had a crazy fruit cake type gelato, and I tried tiramisu and Lanna indiscriminately tried multiple spoonfuls from everyone.  (we saw a bright blue flavor called "Puffo," Italian for Smurf. We all admired it for its color but decided on a more natural appearing flavor).

Here they are, post-gelato:

As a quick aside for the foodies, here's a great gelato guide to determine if a shop offers truly great gelato:
http://partaste.com/blog/gelato-italy/

Alisa successfully returned from the ceramics store and we got back on the road with the Lake Garda as the final destination.

https://www.google.be/maps/dir/Moniga+del+Garda+BS,+Italy/05018+Orvieto+TR,+Italy/@44.0153806,10.6281565,7z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x478193d228b17e99:0x25c02283de923cb4!2m2!1d10.5346349!2d45.5266444!1m5!1m1!1s0x132ecd06ba76106b:0x52122993d30fa840!2m2!1d12.1107446!2d42.7185068!3e0

We were heading to Lake Garda to meet Simone's parents, Beppe and Lidia.  Simone is Katherine's partner, born in Brescia, Italy, currently a professor in New York teaching Italian literature and film. 

Beppe and Lidia still live in Brescia but they also have a serenely peaceful lake house on Lake Garda, about a half hour from Brescia.  They generously offered for us to stay there for a few days and wanted to be able to meet us all in person.  We were equally excited to meet them!

Without Katherine, we were once again bereft of any ability to speak decent Italian. Fortunately it never resorted to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnREBX8TJRY

We arrived shortly after 6pm and both Lidia and Beppe were so warm and welcoming.  They showed us around the property.  The playground and open space was fantastic and the boys were thrilled (although they looked longingly for any pigeons and saw none).  The location was near the water and we walked down to a restaurant and had dinner together.

Although they did not speak English, Beppe spoke Spanish and Lidia French, so Alisa and Lidia could communicate while Beppe and I could talk.  It wasn't ideal, especially when I wanted to talk with Lidia but we made it work!

They returned to Brescia that night, leaving us to enjoy the peaceful solitude.  We would meet up with them in a few days in Brescia.  They had recommended some locations to visit the next day and we slept well in anticipating for the next day's adventures.

Many happy returns

Thursday dawned blue and clear. 

Alisa would be giving a talk at La Sapienza, Universita di Roma, around noon, and we were planning to accompany her, since the university was near the heart of Rome.

We followed the old city walls again and retraced our path to the Colosseum, walking past this amazing building on the way to the University.

Alisa met her host, we wished her luck, and then I went with the kids to a basilica just a few hundred yards away from the school, San Pietro in Vincoli.  I had never heard of this church prior to that morning and was delighted to hear it featured a sculpture of Moses done by Michelangelo.

There's a good write up about this basilica here:
http://www.spacial-anomaly.com/the-churches-of-rome-italy-san-pietro-in-vincoli/

As we prepared to go in, another visitor nodded hello to us and waved to Lanna (she continues her international charm).  He was a fellow American visiting from the midwest.  He smiled and said, "Traveling with three kids is more impressive than anything Michelangelo did."

We thanked him and walked in.  The basilica was large and spacious, making the ceiling paintings seem more distant.  The reliquary shone at the far end with Peter's chains inside.

The boys did very well, although I was nervous when a security lady started following us around.  My fears where ungrounded when she waved at Lanna and offered to take our picture together!  Here we are near Moses.

Here are some other shots of the entire Moses scene.  Although I'm no sculpture expert, you can tell the bottom three figures have a better quality than the upper three. Michelangelo did the bottom three and his understudies finished off the rest.

The reliquary with the chains was impressive as well.

We made our way out of the basilica and started walking down the hill to find some lunch.

We crossed a small bridge that had some of the best views of the Colosseum, so the kids put up with an impromptu photoshoot (giving me flashbacks to my Dad who would always take pictures of us with his infamous, "Just one more picture!" line).

Unfortunately it took us a while to find a good restaurant, but when we did the boys went crazy with their pasta!

Alisa had finished her talk and came to join us at the end of the lunch.  

Then it was time for more gelato before meeting up with my sister in one of her favorite places in Rome:  Campo de Fiori.

We found a fun place for an afternoon break.

Before long, this happened:

Since we arrived at the Campo after the morning markets, the pigeons were in full effect.  Joey and Sammy enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

Given the Campo's excellent location and proximity to Piazza Navona, we went there next.  Joey was mesmerized (as were a solid percentage of the passersby) by a performer in the piazza who had some tranquil music playing as he rolled a large glass ball across his entire body without it ever losing contact with him.

The piazza bustled with other performers, vendors, and hundreds of people sitting around the fountains.  We sat down while Joey and Sammy found some other pigeons and enjoyed the atmosphere.

We made our way back to Katherine's apartment and had a relaxing evening.  The sunset looking over at St. Peter's was a good one.

Friday heralded yet another DOUBLE DECKER BUS experience!

We decided to try a different company this time and will unlikely be using them again in the future, but it still got us around Rome better than bumping along the cobblestones in a stroller.

The boys both wore their Totti jerseys my sister had given them.  Totti is Rome's most favored footballer.  This site captures Rome's love of Totti very well:

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2273554.html

Since the boys wore the jerseys, they were also the love of Rome.  Throughout the day people would yell out, "Totti! Roma!" and the boys would smile and wave back.

Once on the bus, Joey, with his considerable DOUBLE DECKER BUS experience, gave Lanna some pointers.

We hit Campo de Fiori in full swing. It has always amazed me how full and frenetic the Campo is in the morning and how quiet it is in the afternoon.  Instead of dozens of pigeons milling about, it was filled with vendors selling everything from fruit to pasta to art to souvenirs to oil.

The above picture captures the statue of Giordano Bruno (the weathered dark green above the white tent tops), a scientist and mathematician who was deemed heretical by the church and burned at the stake in 1600.  The execution occurred in the Campo de Fiori.  A great article about Bruno and an annual tradition for him can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/books/chapters/chapter-giordano-bruno.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

We went back to Piazza Navona for a laid back lunch.  The Totti brothers once again cleared the area of pigeons.  Here you can see them walking back after another patrol.

From the Piazza we went on the long trek to Trevi Fountain which was being renovated, so the boys missed the full experience.

After Trevi, we walked to the Pantheon, which Alisa and I believe to be one of the coolest buildings in the world.  The boys liked it as well.  They did find it strange that such a great building would have a hole in the middle of its ceiling.

As amazing as the Pantheon was, we had walked past a Ferrari shop on the way.  Immediately after leaving the Pantheon they asked to return.  We did.  They promptly became proud new owners of Ferraris.

After such a gauntlet of history and architecture, we loaded back on the bus.  The driver impressed me with his assertiveness although I did fear for our lives a few times.

The route did give us this exceptional drive by of the Colosseum (please forgive Lanna's crying in the background, she was pretty much ready to go back to see Aunt Kiki and Ella).

We finished the walk back to see my sister and enjoyed some quality aunt and cousin time.

Another city, another DOUBLE DECKER BUS.  Everyone loved their day in Rome and were looking forward to more history, more gelato, and more time with Aunt Kiki and Ella.