Alrighty, people. Really sorry so behind . . . know y'all are wondering what I've been up too these past few weeks.

I still have a few more posts about the holiday trip with the family and then I'll post about my trip back by night train and my time in Zurich while they where in France for about ten days. This past weekend was fantastically hilarious and yesterday was my first day of work in a long time. This week the kiddos have one last week before school starts on Monday so they won't be going to day care on Wed or Fri which means I think I'll be working close to 54 hours, haha, fun. But, really we have been getting along good so far. I am glad I went with the family because the kiddos and I shared hotel rooms by ourselves and it helped us get to know each other better and O and I had a chance to just have two hours of girl talk alone which was really good. She was so cute saying yesterday how last week while they were gone she missed me being there to sing her to sleep . . . aww!!! How precious is that!?! Oh my goodness . . .

I am loving my time off from classes too, although I am definitely looking forward to getting back to the confusion and stressful aspect of learning German as of the first of September. Bis spater meine sprechen deutsch learnen kurs. Haha. I get so embarrassed when I try to speak it because it is so entirely wrong. I feel now for our Naples neighbors in the Twin Oaks Nursery. Haha, Pancho and his boys. At least I am not trying to learn English . . .

I am now on break for a couple of hours as Olga is watching J and O is in some singing thing so I shall try and be productive, clean, study, or maybe watch that amazing BBC movie, North and South, from the book by Elizabeth Gaskell. How could I have never known about her, all these years?!? Cranford!?! Wives and Daughters!?! Tonight or tomorrow I shall attempt to post more . . . bis dann!

Our first day in Genova and the ferry ride into Barcelona, Spain! :-D

I think I give up on trying to put these photos in order, takes far too bloomin' long and I have not the patience when I am thus far behind. :-)


My first ferry ride, the Genova coast.

The Genova coast
Another ferry pulling in as the sun is setting, so romantic! I needed someone to hug! ;-)
:-D T'is so lovely!


This was O and J and I being extremely goofy on this Pirate ship model that was used in a movie. We paid a few frances for just the three of us to explore while Mr and Mrs X waited on the dock. Was hilarious! We just kept running around checking everything out. Fulfilled a childhood dream *ticks of a box*!!!

Ferry sign in Italian and English
This is J, Mr and Mrs X and the absolutely TINY cabin. Mrs X reserved "a chair" for me to sleep in during the night in this special room that was like a plane and thankfully nobody else was next to me so I took up TWO chairs, how awesome is that!?! Community sleeping rooms . . . haha . . .

I think I want to go Blonde . . . are you keen? (I love being around aussies!!!!)

The Captain's cabin!!!


During the afternoon we took this trolly straight up the mountain (really scary since it was so steep) and walked a long ways up to stop and have a bite at this bar.

The city "Kirche" or rather church in Italian, whatever that is.


CROCODILES at the acquario

Tree frogs!

the trolly to go up the mountian
the view from the moutain

The few Dolphins at the aquario
Eek!!!! This snake is cool looking, but terrifying!!!
"taken on the jellies, man . . . you got some serious thrill issues . . . "

During our day in Genova, we went to Europe's largest aqaurium, which in all honesty is absolutely nothing compared to Chattanooga and Sea World is positively amazing and CLEAN (poor dolphins) so save your money and go to Fla and Universal too!

Btw, I've come to the conclusion that when I am finished with this phase of my life I will take a road trip around the U.S. and become familiar with MY country and the amazing things there. Granted, places don't date back to the 4th century or earlier, but still I want to get out there and immerse myself in it!!!

We also walked around the inner maze of the city again after the aqaurium and the kiddos and I toured this awesome Pirate ship and we ate a snack on top of the mountain next to a castle, walked around more, and then made our way to the ferry where we waited in line for three hours almost before we could board the ship. The kiddos and I played a card game called "Phase 10" really fun, after I finally understood how to play. Lol, learning a new card game is confusing enough, without having to translate into a language other than one's mother tongue, haha.

Once we boarded and put the couple of bags in the cabin we made our way to the top of the ship. The view was amazing as the sun was setting and the stars began to appear. I've never really been on a ship before, I mean small boats in water not all that deep, but this was entirely new and a bit odd. I think I liked it . . . lol . . . One has to pack light, and have a separate bag with bare essentials when doing these kind of things. Also have to be more accepting of body oder . . . seriously. O_O

We then went down to eat supper at 10pm, with a continually swaying feeling, lol, didn't get sick the whole time so that was superb! We sat in the bar/lounge area with everyone else and listened to an Italian man sing in the background. Visions of Simon Cowell and his remarks kept popping up in my mind, haha, is that horrible!?! ;-) Close 1am it was time for me to adjorn to my chair and sleep the night away, which intead resulted in watching Heros on the big screen in Italian and listening to Italian conversation and snores until finally morning came. Then it was breakfast, staring at nothing but water for almost two hours by myself which was relaxing and then lunch, more card games, more waiting, watching as we pulled into Barcelona, Spain and then more waiting till we could get off. :-) We then got in the car and drov to Zaragoza for the Expo . . . :-)

The ferry arrived in Barcelona and then we drove to Zaragoza, Spain.

This was the coast of Spain from the Ferry! The ferry ride was an adventure! I've never been on a boat like that and for 18hours it was a thrill. The coast of Italy looked absolutely gorgeous from the boat as the sun was setting and as we were gliding through the water the smell of the sea and the salty mist was so much fun. I've never seen the water looks so beautiful, It looked like one huge sapphire!

Jellyfish everywhere as we pulled into Barcelona . . . eek!

Italians and Spaniards are horrible drivers, just cutting in front of everyone . . . they must all have a deathwish!


We didn't stop in Barcelona, just drove through so this was all I saw from the car. :-(



This was at the Zaragoza Expo 2008.
Sand art! I've never seen such exquisite sand art. I don't even know how they did it, I mean layering is easy, but making a camel!!?!!

This was some water display sculpture. We walked one mile up the building to look down on it and then a mile back down to stare up at it. O_O

Fluvi the water drop mascot . . . looks like an alien . . . Zaragoza is really a dirty town . . . really dirty . . . this street though was fairly nice. The Basilica is all the way down.
King Ferdinand!!! This exhibit was really cute. Instead of demonstrating "our spiritual connection to water" at the Expo, the Austrian display showed a traditional dance! Cirque Du Soleil PARADE!!!! I was so thrilled. I am simply aching to see a live Cirque Du Soleil performance!

While driving to Zaragoza from Spain we crossed over the Greenwich line! The arch shows the line!

The "La Mafia" Restaurant! Full of Mafia photos with REAL Italian men! ;-) Haha, must be a coverup. Wonder what is happening out back . . .

"And may their first child be a masculine child!"