Raising the May Pole

OK...Before I get started I just want to clarify something...There is NOTHING phallic about the May Pole. It is simply a very large, straight, wooden pole which is erected...I mean raised...in the center of villages throughout Bavaria Why do they place these poles in their towns? They are a symbol of the vitality of the village. At the raising of the pole, people gather, roast meat and drink beer. Given the size and weight of the pole, there is much performance anxiety over the ability of the male villagers to actually raise the pole and keep it up. Now what is phallic about that? So please no comments!

So May day, or Maitag, is the traditional day for raising the May Pole, or Maibaum in the towns of Bavaria. They must be erected at least once every five years unless there is concern about the general status of the pole. To ensure they remain in good repair, they are inspected every six months to ensure the wood is solid (for example, the pole in the Viktualenmarkt was removed early this year due to being rotten and until it was raised on May Day, the market looked, well, impotent!). Since this is an important Bavarian rite, Matt, William and I decided to attend a Maibaum raising in an area of Munich known as Harlaching. We arrived a little early to find that the festivities were well under way. An oxen was being roasted and beer was being served. The Maibaum was laying on the ground awaiting the raising. The Maibaum is made by selecting the tallest, straightest tree in the forest, stripping the bark, painting it the Bavarian colors of white and blue and adding symbols of the village as extensions off of the pole. When finally raised, it is rewarded, I mean topped, with a wreath and usually a cap that symbolizes the town...for example a fish for a fishing village etc. We were looking forward to participating in the event so we grabbed a beer and an ox meat sandwich (DELICIOUS!) and settled in. Soon the Bavarian band started, and the speeches began. My German continues to be abysmal so I settled back to the words of "BLAHBLAHBLAH" which is what everything sounds like to me anyway. Then the fun began! In Munich, the tradition of manual raising has been replaced with the erection by crane. All I can say is there must have been some serious accidents because typically Germans will choose tradition over safety any day. So up rolled the Fire crane and the raising began. This particular Maibaum was quite long and there was significant engineering and consulting going on about how to properly raise it, inspection of the brackets etc. After about 45 minutes of raising, lowering and readjustment accompanied by the OOHs and AAHs of the crowd...Harlaching had her Maibaum. The engineer then rode the crane to the top to proudly screw in the Cross. Feeling full of beer and meat, we started on our way home only to be engaged in conversation by a nice German man who after we praised the day's event proudly declared "Yes it was nice but it took an awfully long time! I am a helicopter pilot and I raised a 1300 Kilo radio tower on the top of the Zugspitze mountain and it only took me 10 minutes!" I guess he wins! Again, I reiterate, there is nothing phallic about the raising of the Maibaum! Enjoy the video of the event below!

The Von Clapp Family Visit, Barcelona and the Beach!

Lots and lots to tell so settle in and enjoy! After ski week (discussed in the last blog), I survived the flu, William survived the International Schools Theater event in which he participated in workshops, put on performances, went to his first dance, hosted students from London and Moscow and had a blast, Matt survived my flu, a meeting in Miami (poor thing) and lots of hard work, Audrey survived her mid-term meetings, a near broken finger and, of course, she survived us! Finally, we all survived crazy weather from 60 degree days to bitter cold and snow! All of this took place in the month following ski week! Then it was time for the Clapp Family visit!

Julie, Adam and Tyler arrived EARLY on a Saturday morning. Matt and I decided the ONLY way to pick up friends on their first visit to Germany was in our Lederhosen and Dirndl. This was met with much laughter from the Clapps and might have helped their jet lag a bit. We got them home and got them cleaned up and started walking which is my remedy for jet lag, i.e. stay outside and stay busy! The whole family rallied and we got to see the main sights of Munich including the Marienplatz, the pedestrian walks through old town, the Hofgarten and so on. Tyler Borbe (Audrey's boyfriend, if you don't know by now) met us at the Viktualienmarkt and as a resident of Munich for 13 years, graciously took over the role as tour guide. Our tour included the many, many steps to the top of St. Peter's, the oldest church in Munich, for a great view of the city and many of the best sites! We ended the day of sightseeing with the Clapp's first German dinner at Max Emmanual Brauerie. Julie was exhausted and, for the first time, I understood the line "fell asleep mid-sentence". After dinner, we whisked them home to bed. Thus started a whirlwind week of sightseeing, socializing and enjoying the company of old friends. The week included an Irish festival in the heart of Munich where we had a Guiness Stout (in Germany!), a visit to the Treasury, Adam and Tyler's visit to the kids' school, a trip to Neuschwanstein Castle (also called Mad Ludwig's castle) , a tour of the Allianz Arena where FC Bayern plays...OK, I was being a nice host but in fact it was a great tour, an evening at a local pub to watch FC Bayern play, and the Von Clapp family train trip to Salzburg, the home of the Sound of Music, which the kids absolutely loved (see picture of kids on bench)! Julie and I had a great time during the week visiting the markets, sipping Gluhwein, working out at the gym and just catching up on life. Our last day was a holiday here and we all sat around exhausted until Adam went to a party with Tyler B. and Audrey, Tyler C. and William ran around town and Julie, Matt and I went to one of the oldest breweries in Munich for the last German dinner where we got to see a keg of beer raised by chains via an elevator in the floor. After much fanfare, the keg was tapped using a wooden hammer and spigot...What fun! All in all it was a great time...although, I have decided I am a great host for four days, an OK host for two and a not so good one for one...I need to learn to pace myself better.

The day after the Von Clapp's left we hit the Trifecta of days...William's birthday, Easter and our departure for Barcelona (Matt had to go there for work so we tacked it on to the front of our Spring vacation). In addition, we had to get the house ready for a house/dog sitter. What a whirlwind...William, who is usually good natured, even pouted a little about the general neglect of his birthday. However, we finally boarded the plane for Barcelona and our holiday began!

Barcelona is a beautiful and very cosmopolitan city. We had rented an apartment which we were regretting a bit when the taxi dropped us off at what appeared to be a boarded up building in a cluttered old street. With the help of a man standing on his balcony who directed us to the other side of the building, we soon discovered that our flat was, in fact, very nice, clean and had three bedrooms PLUS it cost for four nights what we would have paid for a single night for two rooms in a hotel. Aside from a shortage of hot water (Navy shower anyone?) the place was perfect. It was situated in Barceloneta which is a neighborhood right on the beach. Formerly, a rather rough fishing neighborhood, it has in recent years become quite popular. However, it still retains the old Barcelona feel with narrow streets, laundry hanging to dry off balconies and little squares with many seafood restaurants. The first night, we went to one of the seafood restaurants recommended by the landlord where Audrey ate steak (not a seafood gal), I had monkfish and Matt and William shared a paella. William loved it until he got a feeler from the one of the langostinos stuck in his teeth and took a bite of "potato" only to discover it was cuttle fish. He then decided that the Spanish Paella may be a bit "close to the source". As a result, "poor" Matt had to finish it off himself. Dinner was followed by some much-needed sleep. The next day we went straight for the beach and the kids touched the Mediterranean Sea for the first time! We then took a walking tour of Barcelona and discovered that it was vibrant and alive place (although interestingly there were more Americans than I have seen since coming to Europe). We walked through the harbor area to the Ramblas. This pedestrian street is famous for all of the goods sold along it. Each section had a theme from souvenir stuff, to flowers, to birds including pheasants. All along the way were people dressed in various costumes who would pose for pictures after you placed a coin in their cup. Many of the outfits were quite inventive and some were downright scary. It was a stimulating and fun walk. When we reached the top of the Ramblas, we identified some stores to visit since shopping was on our agenda. However, it was Easter Monday which is a holiday so many things were closed. Therefore, we had lunch and jumped a tour bus. We got to sit on the top, in the sun (very welcome after the recent gray, cold in Munich) and got a tour of Barcelona. Ya know, I have come to appreciate the bus tour as it really helps you to get a feel for a new place. The most amazing sites to see in Barcelona, in my opinion, are Gaudi's buildings. In particular, we loved his church, the Sagrada Familia , still under construction 80 years after his death. I really knew nothing about Gaudi and marveled at his work. He is a fanciful architect/artist who bases his designs on nature. His buildings flow without hard edges and he combines earth tones with colorful mosaics. I immediately wanted to live in one of his buildings! I have included pictures here but take a look on the internet for better ones. We did get off at one of the bus tour stops for a ride on a 100 year old tram to a funicular which took us up Mount Tibidabo where this is a beautiful church and an amusement park with rides that overlook the whole city. Our ride down and the rest of the bus tour took the rest of the day. We wandered home via the old Gothic area in Barcelona which is another treasure. After such a long day, we barely had energy for our tapas dinner and bed. The next day, after William and Matt had a run, we went shopping. What can I say about that except William is the real shopper in the family. It took all day but gave us a chance to get some much needed clothes without paying the high German prices. The last full day in Barcelona, Matt had to work so Audrey, William and I took the metro to the Parc Guell...a park that was originally intended to be a residential development designed exclusively by Gaudi. Well, we got off at the metro stop, proceeded up a street and then looked toward the park...I think I know why it did not succeed as a residential area...the whole way was up, up and up, hills and stairs. I couldn't look the kids in the eyes for fear their glares would smote me dead! So we ascended...only as we got closer to the stairs did we notice the escalators in the streets...I was saved from Audrey and William's wrath. We finally arrived at the Parc and it was worth it. Gaudi designed wonderful public spaces with balconies, columns made of stone, mosaic fountains...all in his swooping, organic style. He had also designed charming and whimsical gate houses where you can just imaging a witch popping her head out of the window (see picture). After taking in the site, we walked DOWN to the metro and headed off for Audrey's haircut...Hey, William got his cut on Audrey's birthday trip to Paris...only fair that Audrey had a chance to get hers done on William's birthday trip to Barcelona. It also helped to cheer Audrey up whose view of Barcelona was a bit tainted by her sadness at being away from Tyler (she only said "I miss Tyler" about ten times a day). We then headed back to the apartment to wait for Matt, chill out, plan our last evening and get ready for the next day's flight to Gran Canaria!

Gran Canaria is a Spanish island 70 miles off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic ocean. I personally had some trepidation since I had planned this trip and was concerned that the weather would not be good, or the island not nice or the apartment which was in a valley in the mountains not to the kid's liking. Our first landing did not allay my fears that much, it was warm but not hot (we learned that the north of the island and south can differ as much as 6 degrees C-- more than 10 degrees F). Our drive on the highway suggested that the island with its arid, mountainous interior was quite built up at the coast...BUT THEN, we turned into the road to our apartment. After winding for 15 minutes through bewitchingly beautiful mountains with buttes, spiny ridges and amazing cacti, we turned into a charming Canarian village tucked away in the valley. After parking our car, we were greeted by our landlords/hosts, Mark and Debbie and brought into a paradise. Mark and Debbie are the nicest English couple in their forties who due to Mark's back injury have retired to Grand Canaria. Lucky for us since they rent out a flat in their house. The flat is great, large, well appointed with three good-sized bedrooms and a great bathroom with LOTS of hot water. If the bottle of champagne on ice, the snacks and fruit laid out and the two bottles of wine didn't convince us that this was a great place to stay with great hosts, the patio, garden and pool did. We had a patio just outside our flat with a dining table and sun loungers. This table became Matt's and my coffee spot where each morning we watched the sun rise over the top of the mountain. The garden was filled with fruit trees that we could help ourselves to, bougainvillea, bird of paradise, a banana tree and a large palm. Tucked away in the garden, was a fountain and stone benches. The garden also contained a heated pool which was a perfect way to start and end most days. Really, it is a wonderful place! Mark, Debbie and their three young kids had the flat upstairs and by the end of the week, we felt like we had made new friends.

The week unfolded like most great beach vacations. We had great weather...most days around 80 in the day and 68 in the evening....perfect. We mixed up beach and activity days which included jet skiing (OK, Matt, Audrey and William went...I watched), Go Karting, an Aqua Park with slides. We had great food both out in restaurants and cooked at home (on a grill...something we miss in Munich). William and Matt got many eyefuls at the mostly topless beaches (and in some cases nearly bottomless as thongs seemed to be the bottom of choice) . Sounds interesting except that most of the people were older and out of shape and frankly, topless is not always a good thing. As William and Audrey said "Just cause you can doesn't mean you should". We took rides on the mountainous west side to the resorts and towns that dot this rocky side of island, took the southern coast road to see the five star resorts and the endless dunes of Masplomas, visited the town of Arguineguin where we could shop for food, buy spit roasted chicken and visit the weekly market. We learned that some areas of the island are built up and others still quite wild. We just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Audrey would call Tyler each night from the rooftop terrace and would then spend time alone contemplating the stars. William played in the pool, ran with Matt, became friends with Mark and Debbie's oldest child, Nile and bought a blow-up boat for floating around in the ocean. Matt took long runs up the winding mountain being passed by cycling teams from across Europe who were training for the Tour. He slept like a log, relaxed and enjoyed himself. I lounged, read, swam on the beach, chatted with Debbie and Mark and just enjoyed being with my family. It was a wonderful vacation but like all vacations...it must end. So we packed up, said good-bye to our new friends and took the long flight home to Munich where Buster and Jewel were waiting for us!

Ski Week

OK, let's start with the fact that the kids get a week off of school in February called Ski Week. Pause, think about it. Also, given that the week is called Ski Week, you really have no choice...You must go skiing. We opted for a week in Galtur/Ischgl in Austria where many of the families from school go (This is an organized "MIS Ski Week" holiday that has been going on for years!). The advantage...There are lots of kids and families that you know so your kids have others to ski with and the parents have others to party with! First, the location...I have driven through the Austrian Alps but never stopped and experienced them. Ischgl and Galtur sit in a beautiful long valley through the Alps very close to Switzerland. The valley is just wide enough for small villages surrounded by mountains. It is the land of Heidi and Grandfather with villages and houses clinging to the mountains. Skiing has brought tourism and money but earlier life must not have been easy and you wonder how people settled in these beautiful but rugged settings so long ago. These are the high alps and we quickly learned the benefit of skiing above the tree line! No trees to get in your way...just wide open runs (called pistes). Our first experience was in the ski resort up the road from Galtur! We arrived on Saturday, settled into our flat, purchased ski passes and signed William up for 6 1/2 day ski school lessons. Skiing started on Sunday and based on US/Poconos standards the slopes were empty. Just wide open runs from beginner to intermediate/expert. You can ski the front or back of the mountain and the runs seemed to last a long time. Audrey who had not skiied in three years was scared...I always start every year's first ski run terrified. However, we both made it down...and felt great. Audrey looked wonderful on the slopes and by the second or third run was skiing really well. Like me, she is conservative and likes to stay within her safety zone. As a result, we sent Matt and Tyler (who was staying with us) off to ski at their level and we just kept to our blues (the equivalent of greens in the US). William started his ski school and by the end of the first lesson was moving from a modified ski plow to the real beginnings of parallel skiing. By the end of the week, he will be skiing blacks in great form...Lessons matter! Anyway, that day, we quickly learned what would be the rhythm of our week. Ski in the morning with friends and family who are not in lessons, pick up the kids in lessons at 12, eat lunch (in Galtur it was ALWAYS at the Almhof right on the slope and for Tyler and Audrey it was ALWAYS the Weiner Schnitzel), more skiing in the afternoon usually with a pack of 11-12 year old boys racing each other down, a quick beer in the afternoon, back to the apartment for showers and a rest followed by dinner with friends or a sponsored event (from the ski week) and if you could stay up, a couple of drinks after. Of course, the teenagers all went out in town until curfew but that's what being young is all about. So this, with some variation became the rhythm of our days. What changed is who and how. I quickly discovered that my old knees and feet couldn't take more than a couple of days of downhill...so I took a 10K cross country trek from Galture to Ischgl...It was a wonderful, solitary run across fields, through the woods etc and I loved it...Given my arthritic knees, cross country may be the main skiing in my future. Audrey too found that days on and off the slopes suited her style and she opted for a quiet day or two at home. Tyler, Matt and William skiied every day...their passes gave them the opportunity to ski at Galtur which is a great and non-crowded family slope and at Ischgl....How do I describe the difference? Galtur and its ski resort at Wirl are quiet, family and great skiing. They are at the end of the valley...the last stop. Ischgl is the Apres-ski capital of the Silvretta Valley....Frequented by Russians who ski in fur coats, with dancing girls on the bars in the afternoon and a crowded village of stylized Austrian hotels. But the real difference is where you ski. In Galtur, the mountain looms above you and you can sit in the cafes and watch the skiiers come down the front of the mountain. To ski Ischgl, you take a gondola (or Bahn) over two mountains and descend into another world. Almost all of the skiing takes place in a GIANT bowl located in the middle of the mountains. When you are there, it is, as Matt said, like being in another planet. When I saw it I dubbed it Planet Ski. So many runs surround the bowl that you cannot even count them and the bowl is so large that sitting in the middle having lunch, people look like ants on some of the runs. Remember this is largely above the tree line so it is a world of white, with ski runs everywhere. Runs last an hour and a half and if you ski over one side of the bowl, you are skiing in Switzerland. There is even a run called the "duty-free" run since you can ski it to a town in Switzerland where you can fill a backpack with duty-free goods. You can ski there for days and never hit every run. It must be seen to be believed. So Matt, Tyler, Will and his friends divided their days between Ischgl and Galtur. I divided my time between a little downhill and cross country, time spent with a friend who had torn her ACL earlier in the year and some quiet time walking across the fields and in town. Audrey spent hers skiing and relaxing. All in all a perfect week! We made new friends and got closer to old friends! What could be better. Some more highlights that must be mentioned...The barrel stave races. Imagine strapping on barrel staves, grabbing a long stick, putting it between your legs to stabilize you and skiing down a slope....over bumps, through gates and over the finish line...at night, with gluhwein. Well, that was an event. William and his friends bravely tried it and had a wonderful time. I was a little nervous about where the long stick would end up in a serious fall...but it is one of the things I love about Europe...people still do things, they haven't gotten so afraid of potential hazards or litigation that they have given up anything which has risk! We had a night of kegel bowling and an afternoon of ski racing where both William and Matt competed (Matt came in 9th in the men's division which is darn good considering the extent to which people ski over here). We had a wonderful dinners with friends, a couple of late nights out...one of which ended with my friend Jean (of the torn ACL) and I screaming our way down the base of the slope on a sled...OK maybe not too smart but lots of fun. Both kids made new friends and learned more about themselves in the process. I read "Atonement" and learned to cook in a kitchen the size of a closet....What more could you ask for except having our friends/family from home to be with us!

So Much Holiday!

Wow - so much to tell...what a whirlwind holiday season we had! After Audrey went home for Christmas, the dogs went to the Hund Hotel for the holidays and the Combs (my sister's family) headed to Paris, we had a quiet but early Christmas morning in Munich (Yes, Santa Claus found us here although he comes on December 6 for the rest of Germany). It was early because we had to leave by 8:30 am to get to Hausen by 12:00. Hausen, below Stuttgart, is the home of our relatives and friends, Karin and Heinrich Schewe. So after breakfast and gifts, we ran out the door and headed to Hausen...About halfway through the trip, we were overjoyed to see the sun which has been noticeably absent of late in Munich. Munich lies at the base of the alps and weather tends to settle in and stay. Well, we were welcomed to Hausen with a wonderful multi-course lunch with Heinrich and Karin followed by all the Stutz relatives coming to the house. What a party! We got to enjoy a traditional Christmas day with singing, coffee and cake, playing card games AND a late meal! It was a wonderful day although we missed Audrey a lot! After hearing Karin sing in church the next day, we had lunch at a traditional German restaurant with Heinrich's family followed by a snowball fight! It was really a nice trip and great to spend time with family and friends.

Following lunch, we raced home, packed our bags and headed out the next day for Rome...How about that...Stuttgart, Munich and Rome all in a day! We arrived in Rome after only 1.5 hours on the plane including a flight over the Alps. After a train and metro ride, we arrived at the hotel to be greeted by Josh and Lauren Combs...how great to arrive in a new city in another country and have family there! And we were off on our Roman adventure! Rome is all about its past. I mean, we got off the metro stepped onto the sidewalk and looked up to see the Coliseum. So Romans live every day with thousands of years of history all around them! Our goal was to walk the city and see as much as we could...We visited the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Borghese Palace and ended up in Piazza del Popolo...a large Piazza at the edge of the old city only to discover it housed the church and a chapel with Bernini sculptures discussed in "Angels and Demons" which I was reading at the time. This was very fun but also brought home the fact that as you are walking through Rome, you are surrounded by art from some of the most revered European artists such as Bernini and there is so little fanfare about it that you can miss it! We continued to walk just taking in the sights before settling down to a dinner on a side street...Matt is a firm believer in only choosing restaurants off the beaten path...and had a nice meal of pasta and pizza....the kids went to bed and the parents went to an Irish bar around the corner from the hotel to play darts (even Rome has a bit o' the green in them). Tomorrow, THE VATICAN.

OK, you get up early for the Vatican so you can beat the lines...you arrive at the Vatican Museum and find the LONGEST line you have every seen. It literally wraps around 3/4 of Vatican City....Maybe 3-4 hours long...NIX to that one. After being advised by a very nice woman that there is no line at 2:00 pm, we headed over to St. Peter's Basilica where we climbed the 500+ steps to the cupola to enjoy views of Vatican City, Rome and St. Peter's itself. We wandered through the church whose amazing mosaics looked like paintings, saw many sculptures by great masters including Bernini and admired the amazing architecture. We also got to see Michelangelo's Pieta which literally GLOWS . It is absolutely beautiful. We also got to see the tombs of the popes...not really much to say here except there are lots of them! And we accomplished all this before lunch! Lunch itself was an amusing experience. We stopped in a cafe advertised as The American Cafe (OK the promise of burgers lured us in...you can only eat so much pasta and pizza) to find that a) the burgers were out and b) the food was the "finest frozen food" in Rome. When the food came for Amanda and I, it was in a microwave container. We had to laugh and ate it anyway. It was at this restaurant that we noted a phenomenon which held true for our entire trip. Every restaurant we went in was empty when we got there and then completely filled. So we were either trendsetters (the most likely answer, of course) or we got hungry just a little early (all you cynics out there will buy into this one, I'm sure). Anyway, after our "American lunch" of frozen food, we heading to the museum which was now lineless (is that a word?) and marched right in. We had prioritized the Sistine Chapel and Raphael Rooms and wanted to speed to those (you can only do so much sightseeing in a day). Well, we soon learned that the Vatican museum resembles Disney World as much as anywhere else (my Catholic friends and family are probably wincing right now). Not only do you get herded to the route that THEY want you to go on but you must pass through several gifts shops on the way. SO, we walked the entire 4 km route which actually had some amazing art including the hall of maps (below right) which was a little like living in my mother's house...every square inch is covered in something, a map, painting, frame whatever. We also got to witness the effect of the "Great Castration"...apparently one of the Popes decided that all those male genitalia on all those sculptures was obscene and had the privates removed to be replaced by fig leaves which because they don't match the sculpture actually make you look...you know..."there " first! By the time we got to the Raphael Rooms I was beginning to feel a little bit like "so what". However, they were beautiful! Of course, then you finally get to the Sistine Chapel...My first impression, iconoclast that I am, was "This is it?". The famous images were smaller than I expected as was the Chapel....but then, I tilted my head back and really started to look (along with every other head craner in the room) and guess what, I didn't want to stop looking. Though it was crowded and not very comfortable, the paintings really do pull you in. I just wanted to keep looking and as you looked more of the beauty, detail and virtuosity revealed itself. But all good things must come to an end! At this point, we were a tired bedraggled lot. The kids were DONE and frankly, so were the adults...so we finished the tour through the last few gift shops and headed home by metro. Our walk back to the hotel from the metro station included some shopping (leather is very cheap in Italy). After a wonderful dinner, we all slept soundly....Tomorrow the Coliseum.

We learned from our experience at the Vatican, to jump the line sign up for a tour. Our tour guide, Aldo, was as Italian as they come. Every adjective was a superlative and as he told us about the gladiators, the wild animals, the people of Rome, Rome's demise at the hands of the Barbarians, he would close his eyes and speak as if he had been there. Soon our whole group was there with him, watching the elevators rise from the floor of the Coliseum (OK this is the mind's eye talking here), seeing the blood of the gladiators, watching the crocodiles in the flooded floor eat those who fell from the boats they floated (yes, they did that). We saw all this while standing in a rather drab ruins. Most of the coliseum was used as a quarry for later building (including the building of St. Peters) so while the impressive superstructure exists, much of the detail is forever lost to later monuments. Our early afternoon was spent on the Palatine Hill which is the ancient center of Rome. Romulus and Remus were purportedly raised by their wolf-mother here and it is the birthplace of Rome. It is also the site of the ruins of some early Etruscan villages, one heck of a large palace (Palatine is reported to be the source of the word palace) and a home of Mussolini who felt he should live on the hill that the early Emporers of Rome lived on (too much self-esteem can be a BAD thing). After leaving Palatine hill and a quick jaunt through the Roman Forum (so much history...so little time), we headed to the train station and Naples.

AHHH Naples, a city of chaos, where people are everywhere, talking, kissing, fighting. Where crossing the street is a game of chicken. Where mopeds/vespa speed along the street and straight onto the sidewalk. Where laundry is strung from apartment to apartment so that when you look up on many streets all you can see is clothing. This is the land of La Cosa Nostra, Limoncello, Pizza and Mount Vesuvius. I had read you either love Naples or hate it. WE LOVED IT! It is so alive, the people are friendly and warm and everyone's life takes place on the street. It is the opposite of polite, restrained Munich where people still speak in the formal "you" and most things private are kept that way. The private is public in Naples, from laundry to loving to pooping (you have to ask William to describe what he saw). So of course, we started our adventure in Naples in the most public way. All 7 of us chose to drag our luggage through the crazy crowded streets of Naples rather than take a taxi...well, the hotel was farther than the guidebook suggested AND there was no mention that the last portion of the walk was straight uphill. So like true Neopolitans, we squabbled, cursed and pushed our way through the streets of Naples to reach our hotel....only to find that the fourth floor hotel had nine sets of steps (don't do the math...its Naples). The single elevator, 10 cents a ride, held little more than one person and some luggage. William volunteered to accompany the luggage which he may have regretted when the elevator started to shake and stopped temporarily between floors 3 and 4 (apparently there is a weight limit...ooops). After checking into simple but clean rooms, we headed into the heart of the old city, where our love of Naples was sealed. We ate the best pizza in the world, visited a Limoncello factory where we purchase this local firewater and walked down a street of shops totally devoted to creches. We then crawled into bed for tomorrow was Pompeii.

Every American school student hears about Pompeii. Somehow, the tragedy of this city resonates with our American lack of history. To know, that 2000 years ago, an entire city was destroyed, its people entombed in ash and mud, and left forgotten for 1,500 years appeals to the imagination of a people whose oldest house is a little more that 400 or 500 years old. To visit this site is to truly see the life of these people who lived, loved and laughed so long ago. The fact that the bodies have been preserved with bones intact via plaster casts (during the excavation, an archeologist figured out that if you poured plaster into the empty spaces in the ash and rock, you can actually "cast" the bodies including the positions of the people as they tried to escape) brings this home even more. They have discovered the bodies of families and animals throughout Pompeii and some of these are on display at the site. It is both fascinating and sad at the same time. The level of preservation of the site is also amazing. Most of the streets are still intact including the well-worn grooves in the stone dug by the donkey carts as they maneuvered the foot-high stepping stones used by people as they walked the city. You can also see stores and restaurants with counters and pots for storing food still intact. You can visit the ornate bath houses where the frescoes still exist on the walls, the baths are there to see and the floor mosaics are still intact. Several houses still have complete rooms and amazing frescoes. There are two theatres, multiple public spaces and houses of ill repute. There is even writing on the walls of the city, advertising the stores and restaurants that line the streets. It was really more than we expected and although many asked before we left "why do you want to see this"....We were all glad we went! A train ride back to Naples, another walk through the city, another pizza dinner (hey, when in Rome or Naples or whatever) and we tumbled exhausted into bed (after a few baba cakes soaked in Limoncello...don't try this at home!).

Our last day in Naples was spent exploring the city. Seeing castles, the waterfront and the elegant parts of town. We ate some of the best oranges I have ever eaten, saw many sites and truly enjoyed ourselves. That afternoon, to the airport in Rome for New Years Eve. Although we debated a trip into town, there comes a time when you say DONE. So the kids enjoyed a swim, Andy, Amanda, Matt and I sipped Limoncello and we all watched 2007 turn to 2008. We then got to call back home to the US from one year to the prior year....2008 calling 2007. Then off to bed and an early morning flight back to Munich...the sad part, saying good-bye to the Combs as they headed back to the States. Munich looked good when we got back, the dogs came home and best of all, the next day we got to pick up Audrey who looked happy and relaxed (except for the jet lag part) after her week with her friends back home! Maybe she will blog about her trip?!? We have now settled back into our Munich life but are still missing our friends back home!