Fall Break

I am not sure where fall break has been during the few 

short years that my children have been in school? But 

I couldn't be happier that it surfaced while we are living

in Europe to help us facilitate our bucket list of travels.

Fall break didn't know what hit it. 

4 stops in 1 week we are either crazy or super ambitious.

I like to consider ourselves the later. 

Here is just a sample of our pictures. WE, and yes Cam is guilty too, took so many photos

that there just might be a 100 page photo book being delivered to my door step soon.

We learned a lot this first big trip of ours. Mainly, DO NOT trust
our cars GPS. The way there got us lost, the way home got us lost and we ended up at Croatia's border who aren't part of the EU and therefore we had our first border crossing experience.
And like Cam pointed out 20 or so years ago we could have been shot for being there.
Good thing Croatia is a nice neighbor now, but it still doesn't change the fact
that we need to go old school and get a trusty ol' Atlas.

2 days at Lake Bled, Slovenia
A completely picturesque lake town that was arguably the best part of our trip.

The castle on the hill above the lake.

There are A LOT of activities in Europe that would never pass the safety requirements in the US,
this Alpine slide is no exception.

Postojna Cave, Slovenia
The largest cave system in Slovenia, has a train ride into and out of the cave.  

Predjama Castle, Slovenia
One of the earlier inhabitants was able to avoid being captured because of the secret tunnels he had from his castle leading him into the cave system. He was able to sustain himself with supplies for a year before his captors became privy to his escapades and eventually got him.

My family is really gobbling up all this medieval history and castle hunting. The real fun is trying
to picture life as it was back then while touring the castles and realizing how primitive and hard life really was back. Not quite the life of luxury or privilege that we tend to think of.

I am not sure why I liked this photo opportunity, but seeing this old woman pushing her wheel barrow  up the hill by the castle made me think of a simple and much more difficult way of life.

2 days in Milan, Italy

Traveling with kids (especially when they are all boys)  the word "Perfect" is rarely uttered. So you know when I say our night in Milan was perfect it really had to be something special. The weather couldn't have been more clear or pristine the lights on the street near the Domo provided a surreal atmosphere and was the perfect backdrop to our
lighted rubber band slingshot type thingies that we bought off some local vendors.
Memorable indeed.

Our family bracelets bought with love from our African friends that tended to be everywhere
trying to sell these things.

Domo at night

They actually allow you to climb the 250 stairs to be on the top of  Domo. Something that made me and my oldest a little nervous since we tend to be afraid of heights. In fact all the kids running around and getting out of my eyesight made me a little irritable, enough that my sweet husband had to remind me to relax and chill out.
Something now I appreciate hearing.

I couldn't resist, isn't this picture sweet.

1 day in Venice

everyone being temporarily distracted on the train ride to Venice.

BIG highlight of our trip to Venice was running into some friends we met in DC who happened to be vacationing there as well.  It really made me so happy to see her!

I kind of knew feeding and chasing the pigeons on St. Marks square would be a hit. 

St. Marks square

a bride and groom getting ready for their photo shoot. I couldn't resist snapping their picture they looked so amazing

The gondola ride was every bit as special and romantic even though we did share it with these guys.

Our last day was a rainy gloomy day so we finished our trip by playing at Aviano AFB Italy with our friends who were also traveling to Italy from Budapest and stocking up on essentials from the commissary and base exchange.
My kids and I almost cried seeing all the American products.