Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Italy/Greece : Day 10 - On the way to Greece

Last night we had to have our bags outside our door before we went to bed. The bus was going to load up, take the first ferry back to the mainland and meet us there.

The following morning, the kids were coming down the elevator. Part of the way down, they met Fabrizio, who was rounding up the suitcases from the people who forgot to put them out last night. He saw the kids in the elevator and said, "Oh good! Take these two suitcases down to the lobby." Then he pushed the suitcases into the elevator with the kids. When they got to the lobby, the door opened to a harried looking porter who scolded the kids (in Italian) for not having their suitcases ready on time. hahaha!

Today is our travel day. We leave Italy behind! Here is our last meal in Italy on the way from Venice to the Ancona.

Here is our last gelato in Italy (down the street from the sandwich shop):

Here us our last church viewing in Italy. I don't know what the name of the church is. It was just across the street from the gelato shop:

In Patras, we boarded the ferry for Greece. There are only a few ferries going from Italy to Greece because of the unrest in Greece. The port that the tour company usually uses was closed. We had a few problems getting past the port authority, but Fabrizio took care of it all (in very heated Italian).

I'll talk more about the overnight ferry to Greece tomorrow. Today, I want to add a few tits and tats about our time in Italy. Here is a field of Tuscan sunflowers. There were sunflower fields all over Northern Italy. We were there just at the end of the growing season. You can see that they are starting to droop. They must have been spectacular to see a few weeks earlier.

Oh look! Here's my beau from Florance. All the wooden boys and toys reminded us that the story of Pinocchio originated in Italy.

Oh look! It's Chris's dream car!

The amount of luggage was AMAZING! Everyone on the bus had one suitcase and one carry on, and almost everyone's suitcase was the maximum size allowed by the airlines.

Venice is famous for MASKS! They were so FUN to look at! Some were really gorgeous!

Cheryl got a mask for a souvenir. I don't know how she could pick one out of the thousands and thousands of masks that we saw.

Chris is styling his new hat and sunglasses. He lost the sunglasses that he brought with him, and he's really going to need a hat in Greece. The sun there is supposed to be brutal!

This is a Burano color study... I'm dressed kind of blah, so Cheryl picked the green for me...

Blue of course for Jim...

Chris is styling the neutrals....

Since Cheryl picked my color, I picked hers... What do you think?

Chris is learning all the features of his new camera...

Lastly, here is my favorite photo of Cheryl and Chris. People on the trip were unsure about Cheryl and Chris. Some people thought that they were 14yrs and 16yrs old. Some people thought they were teenage twins. Most people thought they were going to be trouble. At the end of the trip, I think every parent in the group told me what joys they were. They were so sweet and polite and pleasant to talk to. They also commented on how well they watch out for each other and what good parents we are...

Those are my sweet kids... I'm so proud of them!



Italian wisdom: Parents need to be parents, not friends...

2 comments:

  1. I loved meeting Cheryle and can't wait to meet Chris! Everything really looks beautiful! I am still looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

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  2. Joni I LOVED all the photos.. love the color photos.. and oh my would I have LOVED to have seen those sunflowers in person! How SWEET about your kids.. I can tell just from how you speak of them they are good kids and you are GREAT parents!!

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