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Seeing Italy: The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Up close with the leaning tower of Pisa, one realizes the iconic structure is tiny. Tourists with selfie-sticks, crowds of visitors, and street-sellers. They all add to the busy hum in the Piazza dei Miracoli. Traveling through Italy is both familiar and foreign. Our kids, ages 5 and 8, speak the language fluently. But they have to follow their inter-racial, tongue-tied parents around. When we can’t communicate or get lost, they’re sent to ask questions and directions. It works out pretty nicely! Folks are usually confused, amused, and then surprised when they hear the kids. The city of Pisa is like many medieval cities this side of Italy. Romanesque churches,…
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Experiencing Italy: Our Adventure Begins!
The goal is a little ambitious: to see as much of the Italian coast as we can while the kids are on summer school break! We started out on the west coast, heading from Milan straight to Genoa, then crawling back up north to do the entire stretch from the Italian Riviera. These first pictures are in Genoa. More adventures to come! Our two kids, who speak fluent Italian, are great to have as translators. We’ve brought a tent and sleeping bags, embarking on the most spontaneous adventure we’ve ever set out to have in our 8 years as a family. I woke up today in a beautiful Agriturismo in the hills…
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Discovering Ferrara!
Ferrara took me and my sketchbook by surprise. On a whim, I decided to go with Ellie, my four-year-old, on a trip to a city I’d never been before, much less heard of. It was for the fifth edition of the Autori Diari di Viaggio Festival, or Travel Diaries Festival. A three-day event with workshops, exhibitions and art! I knew I had to go. I wanted to sketch and meet other artists. Ellie knew she wanted to go to eat. Visiting this UNESCO World Heritage site in the beautiful Emilia-Romagna region was like walking straight into a medieval storybook. A fortified castle looms over the…
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Travel, An Awakening
Travel didn’t always thrill me. The first memory I have of an airport was that ugly tarp in the old Philippine International Departure Terminal. It was muggy and gray, just like my memory of that particular day. The year was 1985. I was five years old, and my parents had told me that we were flying to India! How exciting! It would be my first time out of the country; probably my first time on an airplane. But what they didn’t tell me, was that they were also breaking up that day. My mom and dad sat on separate seats in the giant jet plane. I can’t remember which parent…
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Time Out in Milan
One of the most important things you can do as a mom is taking time out for yourself. It’s easier said than done, and it often requires two things: Having a supportive partner who understands your need to take time out, whenever you need it Letting go of any “mommy guilt” you may be feeling about leaving your children and/or partner to do something completely for your sake only. I’m lucky to have that number one; number two, I’m still working on. So last weekend, I took the train without any children tugging at me, and took off for Milan. Overnighted at a girlfriend’s, spent the next day sleeping in,…
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Rainbow Season
“Brutto Primavera!” I have heard the locals say. There’s been a lot of rain this spring and summer. Unexpected thunderstorms and harsh showers. But despite the weather, every kind of sky over Lake Como is a gorgeous sight. Even when low-hanging clouds threaten to burst, it’s a lovely panorama. The rains remind me that life isn’t always sunshine. From one minute to the next, you can expect a downpour out of nowhere. Darkness has its place; even tears have a purpose. And on the gloomiest days, we wait for the rainbows. On Lake Como, they burst through the sky, launching their beams of glorious color from one end of…
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Travel with Kids: West Bohemia in the Czech Republic
On my second visit to Western Bohemia, I should’ve known better than to ask the waitress if the restaurant offered anything that “wasn’t so heavy”. “Evry-zing in Czech Republik iss e-vee!” came the curt reply. It was Easter and we were in Františkovy Lázně, a small but charming spa town just beyond the German border, in the Karlovy Vary region. As we journeyed past the autobahn, forested highway lanes opened up to beautiful, spacious, bright green plains. None other than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described this town as “heaven on earth”. And driving through its historical center, you can see why. In the 1700’s, Austrian Emperor Franz I (after whom the…
