Remember all the Best

Yesterday, while on the train coming home from a quick 4 days in Rome, I started to think back on all the places we've had the opportunity to visit and sights we've been able to see in our first 19 months living abroad.  My little trip down memory lane, so to speak, all started when I was sitting next to Delilah in the taxi on our way to the train station.  I had asked her what was her favorite place we'd visited on this trip and she immediately told me she liked the Eiffel Tower the best. The one is Paris, she reminded me.

Poor life of a military kid--they mix up all the famous sights they've gotten to see in their wee 3 year lifespan...

No, I told her...what's your favorite thing that you got to see on this vacation...the one in Rome, I reminded her.  The one we're on NOW.  

Oh, she said (with this hilarious look on her face)....THIS vacation.  (Heavy sigh from her, chuckle from me....) I like the building with the big ceiling (The Sistine Chapel). But I like Paris best the most...

(She talks about Paris ALL the time and has this Eiffel Tower keychain that she carries around with her, too)

All of this talking about favorites got me thinking in the taxi and on the way home on the train--how much of all these favorites would my kids remember?  My husband, Steve, grew up in Europe as well and actually remembers it all fondly, but he was older--much older than Delilah and Jackson (my youngest two who are just 3 and 6).  I think Jackson just might, because that boy has a memory like I've never seen before, but what about Delilah?

Will she remember swinging of the swing in the park on the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice?

Or sailing on a pirate ship there? (yep, a pirate ship in the Grand Canal in Venice) Please ignore my mother-in-laws' finger...

Will she remember sledding over Memorial Day weekend on the Zugspitze at the top of Germany?

Or when she pitched a total fit about getting to drive the electric boat on the lake in Zell am See, Austria, so daddy just gave up and let you?

Or on that same trip to Austria, when we went on the Sound of Music tour and I took my all time favorite picture of Delilah and Jackson in the church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp really got married?

(I LOVE this picture)

Will she remember playing in sand at the edge of the Mediterranean while we were in Cinque Terre and then begging daddy and I to let her get in the water?

 So we did..

Or will she remember when we went to Sicily and had Aldo Trapani show us around some sites that were built over 400 years BC? And will she remember how tall he was and how much she loved playing with him...

Or when Pope Francis was picked and the all the churches were ringing their bells in our town and everyone was SO VERY excited--even though we're not even Catholic...I KNOW I will!

Will she even remember how excited she was when we found one of the very LAST Rapunzel dolls in Disneyland Paris?

Or when she got to see the Eiffel Tower for the very first time!  

And Daddy carried her all over Paris on his shoulders?

Will she remember when she got to see the Colosseum in Rome...

She probably won't remember the Pantheon, since she slept through it...

But for now, she remembers the Sistine Chapel. And likes it the best. From this vacation, at least.

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Cinque Terre Part 2

Jackson on the train ride

Day 2
On day 2, we awoke to another beautiful morning and headed right out to park our car and catch the train into Cinque Terre.  We did it a little differently this time and took the train all the way into the 2nd city,  Manarola. It is, without a doubt, the most picturesque of the CT cities and the one that most people have seen pictures of.  The weather was absolutely beautiful during out trip here and we had a great time walking around and spending time together as a family.

I loved that the streets were lined with boats instead of cars

This little old lady watched us the entire time we ate lunch.  Delilah kept yelling, "Hi grandma!" at her.

We ate lunch on the bench to the left.

This is looking down on the point where we caught the boat.  There's a nice view of the walking trail between the cities (with the white fence).

Clouds rolled in but it never rained.

The kids walking out to the ferry.  

The walkway was very narrow and the rocks had an awesome pattern.

The ferry boat.

The marina.

Delilah waiting for the boat.

We took the boat from town 2 Manarola to town 3, Corniglia.  Corniglia is the smallest of the CT towns, the least visited, and the hardest to get to.  It sits atop a hill and after you arrive at the train station down by the water, you either have to walk up the steep road on the hill or travel up 33 flights of steps, all 382 of them.  We decided to walk up the road.  It was a haul but the view at the top was worth it.  Steve carried Delilah the entire way, along with our heavy backpack.  He was a superstar.  Tory and I took our time, taking pictures the entire way up.  When we got all the way up to the top, we realized that if we had waited, a van would have come down to get us.  It costs 2 Euro--and he didn't charge for kids...sigh.

View from the boat, looking back on Manarola. 

Beautiful Corniglia high up on the hill.

View from the boat of one of the landslide areas

Corniglia train station

View of the steps up to the top of the mountain in Corniglia.  We walked up the street to get to the top and then took these stairs back down to the train station.

Just a couple of shots on the way up.

At the top--Delilah played on the steps while everyone waited for Tory and I.

Narrow streets of Corniglia--it was no where as crowded as it looks!

Gelateria where we got gelato--I love that Delilah is pointing at fragola--strawberry, the kind she always wants.

Roll Tide!  Even in Italy!

Tiny trattoria--wish we would have eaten here.

Looking back at Manarola from Corniglia.

 Can't imagine having this house with a view...

 Other direction looking out at the last town, Monterrosso.

The view from the top was totally worth the climb and was part of the reason that Corniglia was my favorite town of the Cinque Terre.

The kids were obsessed with this cat--he was 100 years old and less than thrilled with the attention...

Looking down the steps at the train station.

Hotties

Artist painting the wall by the train station.

Vernazza is the 4^th city in the Cinque Terre and it was just as lovely as the rest.  What made it different is that it is the city that was most damaged by the mudslides of previous years.  There was a small sign showing what the city looked like just days after the landslide that killed several people in 2011.  It was placed right in front of where the slide occurred and it was shocking how much damage had occurred, but also how it looked as if it had never happened. 

Sign showing the damage in Vernazza.

Same area after the restoration (the guys in the pink shirt and black shirt to the left were Americans and they asked us where we got the Cheetos Delilah is holding.  They are students studying in Florence and were shocked when they saw what she was eating.

City streets...without any cars :)

Down by the water in Vernazza.  The shoreline was beautiful.

Looking back into Vernazza--I knew when I took this picture, it would be a great one!

Restaurant from the Rick Steves video we saw.

We realized that we could not take the train back to La Spezia from Vernanzza, so we had to ride it back out to the last town, Monterosso, before heading back to Camp Darby.  I really hope that we can get back to CT one day.  It was such a quick trip and we really didn't know what to expect.  I was so worried about all of the difficult walking with the kids, but it turned out to be a non-issue.  Next time, we will stay in one of the cities in CT instead of at Camp Darby.

At the end of the day, Delilah was tired and cranky.  Tory was pouting because Delilah was being mean to her. 

Pictures like this make me wish I had a sister.

 Monterrosso--the end of our visit and the end of the Cinque Terre.