Natale a Lucca (Christmas in Lucca)

In Lucca,  in the wintertime, there is an ice skating rink set up in the middle of town. That was really exciting for me and Arya because we'd only been skating a few times before. We've already gone a bunch of times and I've already gotten a lot better! Including how to skate backwards (very very slowly)! It's a lot busier on the weekends so we've been going on weekdays while the Lucchese kids are in school.

A lot of the buildings around town have been lit with special projections by the local electricity company. They're cool.

Getting a tree was very interesting. First we asked around where we could get a tree. We finally asked someone where we could find one and they suggested the grocery store, she said they had a few and that that was where she got hers. We had already been there and hadn't noticed any so we were surprised she said that. We went back to the grocery and looked around but still didn't see any. But then out the top corner of my eye I noticed two synthetic trees on top of shelves above the produce. I said, "Look! There it is!" So we ended up getting a small fake tree.

To get it home, we had to take it apart into three pieces and Mom, Arya, and I had to carry a piece each on our bikes! Dad was carrying a bunch of other stuff like ornaments and decorations. When we got home, we put it together and decorated it with the few ornaments we had. It was different not decorating a big tree like we do in America because I could reach the top without standing on a ladder! I thought it ended up looking fine. Not the best tree ever, but it works!

Even though we were in Italy this year, we decided we needed to continue our tradition of making cookies for Santa. My favorite ones to make were the sneemänner (that's our favorite German word that means "snowmen"). We had 3 different sized circle cookie cutters that used to create them.

Christmas morning we woke up at 4 o'clock! But sadly, Mom and Dad told us we couldn't come down until 6 so Arya and I sat in bed and counted down the seconds until then. I drifted off, so once it was finally 6, Arya jumped on my head and said, "Wake up! We have to get Mom and Dad now!" Arya and I had made a plan to wake Mom and Dad up. When we went downstairs, Mom was in a deep sleep, but we didn't know it, so we went on with our plan of banging on their door and singing "Do you want to build a snowman?!?!" Mom said later that day that she almost had a heart attack!

After my parents got up, we went to the living room and were excited by what we saw. The first thing I saw was a slot-car racing set sitting in front our stockings! We opened our stockings and presents and the first one I opened I haven't left for one second since I got her, her names is Mousie! Arya was most excited about her new Lego Friends sets: a mall and an animal rescue station (which has a panda so she was extra excited)!

For breakfast, we had our tradition that I've had every year as long as I can remember, Christmas tree bread. It was supposed to have red and green sprinkles, but we couldn't find any so Dad just put some food coloring on it. Yum!

For the rest of the day, we played with our new toys and Arya started her new Lego kit. Dinner was one of my favorites: ribs with apricot BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans! The ribs are my favorite!

It was a great Christmas! The only thing that could've been better would've been seeing my family. But we got to make a bunch of FaceTime calls to catch up with many of them.

And that was our Christmas!

Dining Out Memory Game

While traveling, dining out is a necessity. While we are at home in Lucca, we try to have the majority of our meals at home for economical purposes, but we also enjoy tasting typical tuscan food in our local restaurants. The dinner hour here is later than we’re accustomed to in the US, with many restaurants not even opening their doors until six or seven pm. With two kids, keeping them entertained through the slow food we enjoy can be difficult. When you spend 100% of your time together, the conversation only goes so far, ha ha! Here is one of our favorite games to play when dining out.

This game was given to us by friends we made on a trip last summer. Dave’s mom loves to travel and took us on an Adventures by Disney trip to Australia. In our tour group was a family from Georgia, also with two girls, who had done an extensive amount of traveling. They introduced us to this game one evening. About a month or so after returning home, what should appear in our mailbox but our very own version of the game! 

What is it?

A small bag filled with miniature objects.

How the game works:

One person is in charge. They take items out of the bag one by one, naming them as they set them out on the table. The first round, about 10 objects are placed on the table. After everyone has gotten a good look, all close their eyes or look away (closing your eyes can be weird when in a restaurant). The person in charge takes a few items away and perhaps rearranges the objects a bit to mess with visual memory. Then everyone opens their eyes and take turns guessing which objects are missing. After the first round, game play continues with someone else being in charge. The first 10 objects remain on the table, but the new leader adds to the pile, say 5 more objects. Everyone again memorizes what is there, and then looks away. The leader removes a handful of objects, etc, etc. Game play continues as long as you’re waiting for food! Sometimes you get up to 25, 30, 35 objects on the table. That’s really difficult!

Why is this game is so great?

It can be played almost anywhere.

It doesn’t take up a lot of room on the table.

It fits in your pocket or purse.

It’s quiet.

It makes you think.

It’s for all ages (once your chiid doesn't swallow tiny objects).

Everyone gets a turn to be the leader.

It’s personal.

What do you mean it’s personal? Well, when we received this game as a gift, it had 40 or so miniature objects in the bag that had been picked by our friends. They put the game together. They found cute things like a miniature frog, a box of corn flakes, a camera, a baby bottle, and the statue of liberty. But as time wears on, we have added to our bag with items we’ve found along our journey such as an unused token from the subway in Philadelphia, or a mousetrap we found at the Christmas market in Salzburg. When you get new things for the game, it keeps the game fresh!

Added bonus: this game has also entertained the wait staff. Everyone is always curious about what is on our table. A waiter in Germany kept making buzzing noises like the miniature bumble bee was going to get him! 

Three Highlights of Vienna

In Vienna, we went to see the pandas at the zoo. The zoo was next to Schloß Schönbrunn. 

There were two pandas. One was a mommy panda and the other was the baby. They were cute! And cuddly! And I wanted to hug them. :-) 

We also saw big hippopotami up close! They put their bottoms into our faces in the window!

When we went to the gift shop I got a pink panda and I named her Cherry! Ashley got a doe named Prancer. I love Cherry!!!

I also enjoyed the children's art area at a Christmas market outside the old Rathaus. Ashley and I made tile boxes and candles. It was fun.

Our last night in Vienna we went to the Prater which is an amusement park. What we didn't know was that during winter most of the rides are closed! We also noticed that there are size and age limits on some of the rides. Most of the age limits were 10 years old soI couldn't ride some. We thought it was going to be a fun night, but it was kind of a let down.

Then we took an overnight train ride to get back home to Lucca. We slept in bunk beds in sleeper cars on the train. Mommy and I got to sleep in the same cabin! (Dad note: sorry I forgot to take a picture of the room after it was converted into a bedroom. The chairs tuck away and out of the wall folds a set of bunks! Really cool use of space.).

Here are a few more pictures from other things we saw.

I'm tired. :-) 

Christmas Markets - part 3 (Salzburg)

When we got to Salzburg, Austria we walked about a kilometer to our hotel. Immediately Mom decided to get a dinner reservation because we had learned from past experience that that would be a good idea. We were all pooped from our train ride from Bamberg so we started with a little down time in our hotel.

After our rest, we walked down the street and found a small Christmas market. We walked through and noticed a nearby park. As we got closer, we realized it was a park where a scene from the Sound of Music was filmed! 

Here's a picture of me and Arya jumping on the steps where the kids are during Do-Re-Mi!

We noticed over a fence in the park a playground and decided to go find it. We walked around and found this awesome park! The main structure was a large pyramid made of wood and metal with a loooooong tube slide coming out of the middle, but to get up it, you have climb up many large layers inside the pyramid. Arya counted 8 layers.

The slide is very fast and very fun! My favorite part were these huge hammock rope swings that come off large pyramid brass posts. We decided to swing on those for a long time.

Mom and Dad told us it was time to head out, so on we went.

We walked across a large bridge and found ourselves in the old town. While we were there, we discovered a few more Christmas markets and enjoyed looking around.

When we got back to the hotel, we sat down for a nice traditional Austrian dinner. Arya and I decided to wear our traditional dresses! Aren't we cute?!

The next day, we took a trip up to Schloss Hohensalzburg. And yes I mean literally, up. The castle is built on a mountain in the middle of the city so we took one of the steepest railroads ever to get there, as seen in this picture.

When we got up there, we sat and had a nice lunch enjoying the view of Salzburg from the top.

After that, we walked around the castle and took in the sites including: an interesting armor display (not just statues of old men in armor, armor on strings in fighting positions, it looked like a life-sized marionette battle), an actual marionette display room, along with a castle ground Christmas market (mostly ornaments and food).

After another steep ride, this time going down, we found ourselves in a beautiful graveyard outside a church. Here is a picture of one of my favorite gravestones.

The rest of the day we just did some market and shop walking.

Our last day in Salzburg, Mom and Dad surprised us with a tour of the salt-mines of Salzburg (just so you know, by the way, that's where the name Salzburg comes from salt mountain). First we had to get dressed up in these "cute"  mining outfits.

To get into the mines, we had to take a train-bench...yes that's, a train-bench. Meaning a moving bench. Literally. Like on a train, but a bench. Trust me.

Inside the mine, we got to go down a few salt mine slides (so much fun!),

a short ride on a boat on a salt river, and got to watch very very boring videos in German. We had to read the super titles at the top of the screen. I don't think even if they were in English, they'd be much more interesting. On our way out, we had  a bite to eat and there was the nicest dog who kept doing tricks without us asking it to. I think it just wanted our food.

It was a really fun trip and we had a great time, just like some of our grandparents and great-grandparents had had at the salt mines!

The next morning we got a train and headed for our last stop: Vienna, Austria!