Rose colored glasses..

One of my favorites emails found in my inbox ...

"OK it's all very nice, but it is starting to read like a travel writer's blog!!!! I find myself being seduced into wanting to join in. That's not what I need right now. I want to see compromising photos; hear stories of total melt downs and if at all possible lost children. Fights over foreigners trying to spouse steal are also acceptable as long as they end in someone's feelings being hurt.
And to spice it up for my kids can Olivia run off with a little Italian fruit vendor?"
dk

I was going to agree wholeheartedly..we do need more drama!! After careful consideration though I decided that I would prefer other peoples dirt and drama right now..(Dave, I do thank you for your follow up email - it was brimming with good stuff!)

Drama is not easy here, in fact nothing is easy.Mike and I have been extremely patient. We are amazed that everything we do involves many steps...washing clothes (no dryer..), buying vegetables, finding the "right" lane and exact change for the toll road, figuring out if we really are allowed to park on the street,navigating,trying to dial a phone number, finding consistent internet connection..the list goes on. Very few things just happen.

We need an 'EASY' button.

For example...We decided to do a day trip to Rome yesterday by train.Steps involved:

Find a travel agent who would sell us the train tickets for that route.We had to wait for the shop to open.. as everything closes here between 1-4pm (what do these people do during this time??)We had to drive to the train station the day before to make sure the GPS actually had it right...it did not and therefore took us an extra 20 min. We had to determine if we could park there for the day..no...parking is no easy task as it is all dependent on the color of the lines. We had to make sure the train was actually running at that time and on that day. This is all the day before! (Keep in mind that we have two back seat drivers offering up their opinions on absolutely everything.) The actual day of the trip was not too bad. We started the drive to the train station being closely followed by someone at 160km/hr along a country road...only to then be passed as we approached a corner..addd some caffeine to that. Then I proceeded to validate the wrong ticket so had to try and explain to the conductor how and why I made such a stupid mistake..all in sign language. (The last trip to Venice I didnt even validate the ticket and just missed a hefty fine...so at least I am learning. ) We did get lucky though and somehow managed to spend the ride in first class so no complaints about that. There are benefits to not speaking the language..

This was all followed by a day in Rome with two children...no comment necessary. Ok just one, maybe two..from Max. "Oh look mommy, a toy store" ...just as we rounded the corner and the view of the Colloseum/Forum is in all its glory.. I also liked "Why cant we go to the zoo?"...and my favorite..."you mean the wall that they didnt finish building"

We have come to accept that everything just takes time and patience.We have settled into the ebb and flow of travelling. I feel like we could do this forever.

Add a warm, wine-induced happy haze to it all and life is good.


P.S. -

We have not lost the children..but not for lack of trying.

We did lose Mike in Rome for an hour and a bit. We didnt try too hard to look for him as we figured he knew where and when we were leaving on the train.He wouldnt let us shop so it was almost a good thing...