A merchant in Venice

The market by the Rialto Bridge.

We are now in Venice and it is so different from Rome. In Rome it was wide open vista and avenues and of course in Venice every square inch is precious. Every doorway is filled with vendors of cheap glass, expensive glass, tourist trap masks, exquisite linens, top name fashions like Hermes and Vitton and street carts with knock off scarves and straw hats. If Rome was the city we took tours, then Venice is the city we shopped. Today we travelled to the Murano Glass factory and watched a master Glass Blower called Giuliano Ballarin at his craft. Then we toured the showrroms and while I was managing not to fall in love my dear husband succumbed. Turns out this is the end of season for the factory's designs, Easter marks the 'new' year, which means deals could be had. So with negotiations and the children wanting their own pieces,  I ended up getting four pieces of Murano glass with free shipping home for a small fortune. Ah well - it's not very often my husband turns to me with that look - the one my mother had every time she fell for a piece of glass. So I couldn't resist and at least he chose something I liked too. But wow! 

Our last full day in Rome was dedicated to the church. We strolled up to the north side of the Vatican in order to tour the museums and the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. I thought that I would be amazed and in love in the museums, but I was merely enjoying them. The Rapheal Rooms started to catch at my heart but it was when we entered the Sistine Chapel, with the hush that they insist upon - a room not filled with hundreds of chattering tourists but hundreds of quiet people, that it hit me. There above me was art I had studied over and over during many art history lessons and now it was there - real. And it was far greater than I imagined it would be. one piece a sybyl wearing her robes of yellow seemed to come forward off the fresco and I was amazed. Michelangelo's skill is just as all those people before me have recognized as genius. I was definately moved in this chapel. And when we moved into St Peter's the light shining through the transom above the naves of chapels on the high alter gave the reverence and awe inspiring views I had heard so much about. My son Arthur was visibly moved to tears. We stopped to pray and I sent thanks for this blessed place and opportunity.
    We were up early on Wednesday to catch the train to Venice. The Termini is a huge place with hundreds coming and going. We had a little confusion about our seating but ultimately we settled and while I wrote in my journal, Miriam drew and Arthur played Mindcraft and Garland studied chess moves or the newspaper. A lovely four hours travelling through Firenze, Padua and finally across the water to this lovely city. The evening ended with a gracious meal over looking St mark's square where street vendors flew bright blue lights high in the sky and my children madly rushed down to find them. The wind was up and the night had fallen but eventually the illegal vendors reappeared and the kids gleefully begged me to buy the flying toys.
A magical end to a lovely day.
But wow - can the Venitians sell you stuff. Every one of them is a great salesman. You must stay on your toes and be a poker face and prepare to walk away in order to get a deal. William Shakespeare had it right about these guys.

Back in Time

Bright and early Monday morning - and we are up and dressed and eating our breakfasts in a wonderful salon. These rooms are large and gracious. Truly how the better half lived many many years ago. Thanks to the meticulous work of film makers, I can actually picture the crowded room filled with supplicants and busy courtiers all attending on the various persons of authority or influence.

    The experience is so not North American and for me a return to my childhood. When I was eleven we took a trip to meet all my father's family. We travelled all over, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Weisbaden, Austria, Lichtenstein and my family's home town of Ludenscheid. Being here in Rome alot of those experiences return to me. The amazing proportions of buildings - huge rooms, tiny streets, beautiful and old everywhere regardless of whether or not it's a souvenir shop or an haute couture salon. The salepeoples are impecably dressed, the stores elegant in their displays. Even a street vendor trys to display their wares in as attractive a way as they can. And the food. Breakfasts are served with meat and cheese, hard boiled eggs and various pastries and melba toast. Lunch is filling but quick. And a good restaurant won't open until 8pm for dinner. It's a gracious end to the day. So today I begin to feel a little European again.

   Today we separate into two pairs. Miriam and her father tour around the streets and visit the Sant Angelo before hailing a taxi to take them to Gladiator School. Run by the historical society, my daughter was taught 5 different ways to attack and defend herself with  short sword. She was dressed in a tunic and helmet and at the end won the respect of her instructor for listening and doing better than the other children. So here I am bragging about my kid's progress at "school". LOL

The statue of Marcus Auruleius, my favorite Roman.

    Arthur and I went back to ancient Rome. This time our tour was on a segway, those personal transport devices. they are great. Because our tour was on a quiet monday morning we were the only two and we had a blast. The guide tailored her talk to what we were interested in and what we'd already seen. And again as we travelled along the streets we started to belong a little to life in Rome. We went along streets filled not with hundreds of tourists but instead school children and old grandmothers. We passed along  the cobble-stoned narrow lanes and the sun was strong and the breeze perfect. And I learned an essential survival trick - to stop cars you wave madly and they halt - letting you cross the streets but you look crazy doing it - waving frantically and yelling gracie gracie.  This time I saw some of the forum from a new angle and after studying my souvenir book from the day before, this time I actually found myself oriented. Now I could imagine Marcus Auruleius and Sulla walking along the Via Sacra discussing whether Sulla should raid the temple of Saturn and the treasury beneath in order to pay for the wheat they had to import to feed the citizens of Rome. And it was good.

    The afternoon saw the four of us reunited and we enjoyed a half hour 3D movie depicting the history of Rome from Romulous and Remus being left in the forest with wolves, through the assisignation of Julius Ceasar by Brutus et al, and on to Nero burning the city,the death of Saint Peter and then onwards to Mussolini creating the world's smallest independant state the Vatican. History 101 for kids. I didn't care – because a little of it stuck in my children's brains.
That evening we strolled along a wide street , the guys one way eating a gelato, and us girls doing a little shopping in some nice stores before meeting up again for a pleasant dinner at a quiet restaurant. The waiter was wonderful and helpful and we enjoyed ourselves eating veal and lava cake and drinking chianti. Walking home Miriam learned a valuable lesson. Wearing shoes because they look good means you might end up with sore feet. And if you're sweet enough and cute you might persuade a man to rescue you - namely her father who piggy-backed her all the way back to the hotel.
Thank goodness we can sleep in tomorrow – we need it after all of today's excitement.

Via Appia

View from the Palatine

Okay - we here. The hotel is lovely - mere steps from St Peter's and it's Sunday. What a wonderful place to be. Okay last night's meal made up for the lack of the cruise. The restaurant in the hotel stayed open to serve us and we sat under lovely trees in a courtyard at the Hotel Columbus - former home of Pope Julian II. Every protestant bone in my body is cheering - despite the fact that our rooms are on the fourth floor where the servants would have slept. Who cares - it's a papl palace. And the meal - I ate beef tartar for an appetizer ( a treat my mother introduced me too in Berlin when I was eleven.), and pidgeon for my main course, and finished with a lovely creme brulee ( again for my mother.) My son is eating as many different types of pizza in order to tell his friends about it - but I seem to be eating for my parents. And I know my father would have approved of this place. It had all those elements he loved in a restaurant. Great food, good wine, excellent service. I went to bed exhausted and happy.

The next morning it was very hard to get up to do anything, We dragged ourselves downstairs to eat breakfast and my husband and daughter went for an exploratory walk afterwards. Arthur and I| figured out the internet, and he blogged while I had another nap.

Via Sacra

Then in the afternoon we went for a tour. A three hour tour of Ancient Rome - the Colosseum, the Palatine and the Roman Forum. It was great but like many tours there would be things you weren't interested in. However for the most part I was thrilled to walk on the Via Appia and the Via Sacria on the same stones Marcus Aureluis and Ceasar walked. Thanks to Colleen Mccullough's books about Rome I could picture the ancient senators sacking the Temple of Saturn to get the money to buy wheat. It was wonderful. Mirian was delighted to meet her special animal totem. As she squatted posing as her favorite alter ego Geicho Girl on a discarded ruin in the vicinty of several temples ( the Vestial Virgins being one) a real little geicho ran out and up the wall behind her. far more real for her then some statues and a story about Romulus and Remus. But I was delighted to see she found the detailed architectual ruins worth photographing.

We left by taxi and came back to Vatican City where our hotel is. Garland and \miriam knew where to find a wonderful gelato shop and we were all looking forward to having some. We finished by enjoying pizza but had to rush as the restaurant must close by 8pm - Pope's orders. We strolled outside the arches and picked a trattoria for desserts and then strolled home enjoying the view. Right outside our hotel is set up a depiction of the stations of the cross. I took photos of each one.
Now the children have been put to bed, and my internet time will soon run out. So I'll post this. If you're interested in the children;s blogs - visit Dragon-Journal.blogspot.com and Dr-Epic.blogspot.com on this same blogger.

No More Sleeps - Or 24 hours Awake!

In twenty four hours we will be in Europe. I can't wait - it feels like Christmas eve today. The dining room table is strewn with clothing and there are packages filled with travel sized sundries like stocking stuffers all over the living room. This is a trip I've been waiting to do for years. First we go to Rome, then Venice and finally Paris.  It's sort of my own version of Eat Pray Love. Rome is about inhaling the history. We are booked on several tours. I have read a lot about Ancient Rome and I can't wait to walk the streets Marcus Aurelius and Sulla walked.  Venice is for indulgence - food, visions, senses. To eat when and where, to stop and watch, to admire and bask in sunshine and beauty. And then there's Paris - we're meeting up with my cousin and wandering around the city of love.

Then it was time to go. We were packed and on our way. No problems chceking in, no problems going through security. Boarded easily and then the plane left the gate. Then the plane stopped. Then 2 1/2 hours later they informed us that the mechanics could not repair this plane's malfunctioning engine and so back we went. But and this is the kicker - we who has travelled a mere 50 meters now had to go through customs to declare any duty free items and relinquish them. Arthur was now near having a meltdown and by the time we exited the plane someone had alerted the flight attendants - a nice lady decided it would be best if she moved us through the crowd quickly and we were first through and first to get to the Timmies to order something to eat and thus first to board the replacement plane which arrived with a new crew and then had to be prepped etc. So our flight left 7 hours late. Of course that meant new connections and unfortunately for us that meant that we wouldn't arrive until after 9pm thus missing our wonderful dinner cruise down the Tiber looking at the sights and enjoying a lovely meal. We were tired and cranky and I was very disappointed about the lost cruise ( not to mention that it had been prepaid!)  And for all our grief - Air Canada offered us compensation - $50 off the next Air Canada flight we book! Hardly the compensation I am looking for.

In the end it took over 24 hours to travel. My darling husband has a new theory. If you travel anywhere past the neighbouring province - it takes 24 hours. Shanghai - 24 hrs, Newfoundland - 24 hrs, Rome 24 hours.  I'm beginning to believe him.

Shopping Online

" Hello, I'm calling from CIBC credit card division and we've noticed some unusual activity in your card recently."
   It was not even forty seconds after everyone had left when the phone rang and all the hard work I had done, getting the last pieces of our journey sorted out, fell apart. Apparently Fraud departments aren't accustomed to mothers like myself whose brains wake them up at 5 am with urgent requests like: do we have enough mayonnaise, don't forget to pick up dry cleaning and did you confirm that the hotel in Venice can take us the third night. ARGH. I call it being pinged.  One minute I'm unconsciously sorting through mundane items and the next I'm wide awake and fretting about some unfinished task. Over the years I've learned to just give into it and get up - do the task (quietly) and because it often means doing more than a few things to quieten my ping I just see it as an early start to the day. So after being awake since 5:30am and having an unsuccessful conversation with a desk clerk in Italy, finally sorting through all the requests of a booking firm and getting all the usual morning routine things done, like harassing Miriam to remember to return a game to school ( Where did you leave it, go put it in your backpack now!) remind my husband he's being me today ( It's your turn to make sure hair, teeth, lunches are ready) and my turn to be him ( putting out the garbage) that when they all left, I felt I had earned a nice breakfast and, with such a good start on the day, I'd just go downstairs and tackle a few other of those nagging unending tasks, namely more of the paperwork. Not likely.
   The conversation with Fraud Squad was relatively quick - I confirmed that in less than a week yes I really had paid for two separate camps for my children, purchased a hotel room for a single night in Venice and then booked a flight to Paris. Everything except the flight was fine but because of some funny stuff with entries they had declined to pay for the booking. " Sorry for the inconvenience - please let them know all is fine and they may re-enter the purchase. It'll go through now." Easier said than done. What had taken me merely a few minutes online then took over 2 hours and three phone calls to Spain ( huh?) and even then I ended up starting over and redoing everything. Argh. So much for breakfast.
 
   Planning trips with my family can be both fun and frustrating. It's a random thing. Which one of them will be the one who can't choose, or who gets an idea in their heads that whatever it is we're talking about is scary/expensive/hard or just plain dull.  Sometimes they're indifferent to the options - "yea yea whatever " or then the reverse  ' ooh look there's also this , or this, or ...."  I approach the summer season with dread knowing full well that the best camping sites for August were booked in February, that the few spots in the cool game programs disappear within hours once the registration opens and that somehow, despite all our efforts to figure out how to chill and relax - at some point I am going to be wound up and frustrated because someone is gripping about how this wasn't what they wanted.
    And I'm not finished yet. This week I need to finalize the summer plans and still need to book our activities in Rome. So yes Mr Fraud Squad man - I really do want to make those purchases. I wonder what they'll think when I add a campsite in New York State or book a space at Gemboree in Bancroft the same time I order tickets for a tour of the Vatican. I only hope it doesn't happen again at 5am.

Revised Plans

   How is this fair - no sooner than I have all my plans worked out than fate or God or Murphy's law kicks in. 12:30am on that Saturday I had just previously planned so carefully - and I'm running for the bathroom. You can fill in the rest. By 7am I haven't slept, I'm feverish, exhausted and despite all efforts to the contrary cannot get my brain to stop conjuring up images of food which simply sets the nausea off. My amazing husband, having spent the night on the sofa, got up early, stood outside the Shopper's waiting for them to open so he could get the Gravol for me, then called appropriate Messy church and Brownie leaders and co-ordinating how the day would progress without me. He even picked up my dearest friend, drove her directly to her farm and returned with KFC for the kids. With him I am blessed - but my health these days..... The only consolation came Monday morning when another friend called to beg off writing group - she'd spent the night in her bathroom too. I was at least able to reassure her it would pass quickly. I was now fine again (except for this chronic nasal drip.)
    So while I did not get out to an antique show and some shopping with my mother-in-law - Monday we set forth. Our goal - new drapes for the living room and pants for my father-in-law. he wears a size not commonly found. Now for most people I am sure that going shopping is a relatively easy task. But when I take my mother-in-law there is an extra component. She is not a tall woman and she's curious. So she likes to go looking for things just as you think you've finished and should be heading to the cash. In the first years of my marriage this had me in fits. I once lost her in an Eaton's store in Yorkdale Shopping Plaza. Because of her height she was easily hidden by the displays on the counters and it took me and my sister-in-law almost twenty minutes to find her. She was looking for something for her husband.  Now fifteen odd years later I have it down to a science. I tell what I'm going to do - like - "I'm headed to the back to look at drape panels" and then when I'm ready to go I enlist the help of the sales staff in locating her. " I'm looking for a woman in a bright blue jacket " and we seem to get through several stores without my blood pressure skyrocketing or her feeling like she's tied to my apron strings.  I think we enjoy ourselves - but you can ask her yourself for her side of things (because I know her friends are reading this blog).
   Today we set forth and returned semi triumphant. We found two sets of drapes and two curtain rods and not five minutes home , before the tea was brewed we knew which was the right choice and which ones \I would be returning tomorrow. But the pants defeated us. You cannot find a size 46-32 pant with a flat front, thin leg in Mark's Work Warehouse. So it's the Sear's catalogue for us next.  Unfortunately she also seems to be developing the same mucus drip down the back of the throat that preceded my own wonderful cold. Now that is one thing I do not wish to share with her. Please, Please, let your fickle finger of fate miss her with that. She's supposed to be on vacation. That would really not be fair.

Three places at once

   Sort of, kind of, just in time; the house is maybe ready. How's that for a definitive statement. At midnight last night my husband and I stopped trying to figure out where to hang the remaining pictures and just stopped. It had been a long day for both of us and it looks like this weekend will get crazy. In other words - for us, life is returning to normal.
  Have I mentioned I'm a Brownie leader? Brown Owl to be exact. A position of authority amongst the 7-8 year old girl set. It has it's perks, I am often recognized by one of my girls (or their siblings) while out and about and the sound of a piping little voice calling " Brown Owl!" can give me an instant smile. It also has it's down side. When Nichelle was flying up to Guides and Miriam was in her second year of Sparks I joined the Girl Guides like many many mothers before me. There's a kind of unwritten contract that when your youngest joins it's time for you to help out too. And most leaders kind of follow their daughters through the various levels. Which is fine but it doesn't make for a lot of consistency. So when Miriam (and I) went up the rainbow to Brownies and the then Brown Owl informed me she was soon moving on with her youngest - I decided that I would remain behind when Miriam flew up. And I have. This is my third year as an Owl and I'm starting to feel the rhythm of the position. And I've made another choice. To remain Brown Owl until Audrey and Shirley fly up to Guides. That means I still have 5 more years of meetings, crafts, songs, campfires and cookie selling.  
   Cookies Cookies Cookies! Twice a year we sell cookies - it's our major money making venture and we love to sell cookies! I ordered an abundance of cookies this spring. And this is the weekend we start selling them. There are several ways to do this. Tradition #1 - Door to door sales. A great way to get out and get fresh air and exercise along with saying hello to your neighbours. Tradition #2  Let a parent take a case to the office. (Very popular with leaders but less so with employers.)  Other ways to sell - find a group of hyper excited males (sporting events are good locations). They're in the mood to scarf down a box or two immediately. Stand outside a popular store and accost the incoming traffic. They always promise to get you on the way out. Or the tried and true - buy a case for yourself and use them for the next six months in the kids lunches. Regardless of how you sell them - a Brownie leader has to first collect them from her depot, count, organize, distribute the cookies; collect the money, count the money, lose someones money, find it a week later in a plastic baggie stuffed in back pocket because it was handed to you when your hands/arms/brain were filled with something else and eventually bank all the money in time to do it again next fall. This is not necessarily a part of the job I love.
   So this weekend I'm out at crack of dawn patrolling the street with a van filled with cookies while my Brownies move along the streets doing door to door sales. That wouldn't be so bad if I had looked at the right calendar when I agreed to doing it this weekend. Because you see it's also the first time our church is having a special Saturday morning event for the younger crowd. Messy  Church - something I agreed to participate in and (bonus) not be in charge of. Instead that honour goes to my sister-in-law Judy - and she's got it all under control - but she was counting on me to be there to help out (as all the parents are doing).
   But that's not all. Remember my in-laws. They arrived Wednesday and since last year's visit we have added a bathroom, redoing the laundry room in the process, repainted and spruced up the playroom, and of course just painted the living/dining/entrance and hallways of the house. My mother-in-law is chomping at the bit to see it. And she has to wait until Friday. I would normally invite them to dinner ( and have the day to finish cleaning etc) but Friday night my sister-in-law is throwing a Pampered Chef party which she timed so our mutual mother-in-law could attend. And heck I want to go too. So it'll have to be Saturday evening for dinner  I can't ask her to wait until then - so I'll invite her over before the party - except I have to collect the cookies from our designated depot and this time it's not a stay-at-home retiree, but a working mom - so I can't get the cookies until 6:30 and the party starts at 7, so that pushes my mother-in-laws visit to the afternoon cutting in on my cleaning time. Argh.
  As for the rest of the weekend - there's an antique show in Ottawa where a vendor who specializes in the pressed glass my mother collected is attending. It's a perfect opportunity to ask for their opinion on how best to sell my mother's collection ( and maybe arrange an assessment.) I had plans to go down on Sunday and I had asked my mother-in-law if she'd like to attend. Great she'd replied. I was thinking an afternoon just the two of us and my husband could get a little shopping in and drop in to see my mother. Maybe make dinner.
   And then the phone rang. It was my very best friend, my "little sister" Nancy. For some years now we have been separated by the fact she lives in downtown Toronto, and I in small town Almonte. We visit when we can, arrange weekends away in cabins, talk on the phone and exchange FB statuses to keep up with our lives. Last year she bought a farm not more than 90 minutes away.I'm delighted to have her so close by - but they haven't yet moved in. She and her husband are taking a year to wind things up in Toronto and prepare for their new lives in Parham. And apparently the last time they were at their farm they left one of their cars there and now need to retrieve it. So she was calling to ask if she took the train to Smith Falls, could I pick her up and drive her to the farm. And she's was thinking she'd arrive at noon on Saturday. This is my best friend. Of course I'm going to say yes - I just need to figure out how I'm going to do it.
  How to be in three places at once?  First I have to get Miriam to her cookie selling rondevous and that means she will come to mine where another mother who has both a guide and a brownie will drop off the brownie and collect my guide to deliver them to their spot and then return to sell with us. When asked which he preferred to do, my husband chose to come find me on the streets selling cookies, then he can bring my son, and we'll swap places. He'll sit in the van doling out cases of cookies  while Arthur and I head to church and then after I've done my activity at church, I will flee leaving Arthur there, return to my moving depot and swap back with my husband who will then collect Arthur at 11:30 and drive to Smith Falls to collect Nancy and return here with her. That way I get a visit with her, she'll stay to dinner and overnight, and the next day I'll drive her to the farm and then my mother-in-law and I can go to the antique show which is in the opposite direction. My dear darling husband, upon hearing the plans, offered to drive Nancy to the farm and do the shopping and visit to my mother on the way home.  I think that's how this weekend will work.
   Yep it looks like our lives are filling up with the usual craziness. Now if this stupid cold would disappear.