Spit happens

The before picture...doesn't he look excited??


This picture was taken after Jack's first encounter with sweet potatoes and a piece of watermelon. :)

Jack is officially a Gerber baby! It has been fun for us to watch him learn about eating...from his first scrunched up noses to his wide, open mouths, like a little baby bird... He did NOT like peaches or apples initially, and would get this horrible look on his face, like, "You gotta be kidding me!" He much preferred sweet potatoes. (That's my boy! All the salads I ate during pregnancy must have had a good influence after all!) He really liked pears at first, and now he'll eat just about anything--peas, green beans, apples, bananas, pears, and yes, peaches.

For the first few weeks he would suck on anything around him...his hands, the spoon, his bib, the rim of the tray in front of him...I learned quickly to strip him down to his diaper when I feed him, because somehow the food manages to get all over the place. I'm sure you veteran parents know what I'm talking about...you know, they get it on their hands, and then they rub their eyes or scratch their head or pull off their bibs...EVERYWHERE. :)

The other night I was trying to feed him peas, and it was as if his fingers had to accompany each bite; I would stick the spoon in, and as soon as it was out of his mouth his fingers went in...and peas mixed with baby saliva came oozing out all over his hand. Yummy. But he enjoyed it, so I guess as long as it was a positive experience for him, that's what counts.

The other thing he does, though, is that he SPITS at me!! It's not anything ill-intentioned, of course, but he always does it with a mouthful of food...so Mommy ends up with just as much food on her as on baby (at least it feels that way, with all the spit-up and drool from the rest of the day!). We say, "No, no, Jack! NO spitting!" when he does it, but then we bust out laughing because he's so darn cute. He just grins this green, slobbery grin and then does it again.

Tonight, however, as we fed him, he calmly opened his mouth for each bite, with no hand interference, tray-sucking, spitting...we were so impressed! (Of course he spit up green beans all over Eric a few minutes later...but I guess that goes with the territory) It's funny how basic and uninteresting the simple act of eating may seem...and yet what a big step it is for our growing boy. Just wanted to share this special milestone!

(OK, so I totally ripped off the title for this blog from his bib...but we thought it was so funny...because let me tell you--spit DOES happen, a lot, and no amount of bibs can stop it! He currently goes through 3-4 bibs a day--just for the drool!)

It's finally here!

EUROPE
Well, we made it home safely after 17 days in 5 foreign countries with a 4 month old!! We had such a wonderful time with family, and enjoyed many sights and foods! Here is a run-down of our itinerary:

1. Flew into Paris and stayed 2 days
2. Drove through Germany to Prague, Czech; stayed in Prague for 2 days
3. Drove from Prague to Vienna, Austria; spent 2 nights, one full day
4. Drove through Salzburg to Venice; stayed overnight and one day
5. Drove to Rome; spent 4 days
6. Flew to Paris; spent last 3 days here

The following posts are in chronological order of our trip, by location. Each includes stories and pictures. I have to note here that I was a little bit disappointed with our pictures. We chose to bring the video camera and leave the nice Canon camera at home, as I didn't want to be wearing both of them, or trying to wear one AND Jack... We took a bunch of disposable cameras instead; I have used these before and the quality is usually fine. However, we ran into two problems: you can't zoom or focus or do anything even slightly artistic since you just point and shoot. AND...the lens hole is not what you look through with your eye; it's a tiny hole down further, so my finger ended up in front of the lens in a bunch of these--which just ruins the picture. Anyway, a lot of these pictures are from my mom and dad, who are much better photographers and had great cameras. I hope you enjoy reading about our trip!

Paris--the first 2 days

Outside our hotel...our first walk through Paris.
Jack doesn't look very ready for the day's adventures!
The Arc de Triomphe at sunset.

We flew into Paris and spent 2 days recovering and trying to see some sights. The first afternoon we met up with my sister, Marika, and her new husband, Jonathan, who were in Paris on their honeymoon. We stayed at a little hotel in this cute little park on the island by the Notre Dame Cathedral. We took some nice evening walks on the Champs Elysee, enjoyed a yummy Italian dinner, and Eric had his first taste of European gelato and crepes! We also visited Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, and had a sad (VERY quick) visit to the Orsay Museum. Jack highlight: poor Eric and Dad having to carry all Jack’s stuff up the tiny, winding staircase of our hotel—our room was on the 4th floor!

Prague-- 2 1/2 days

Beautiful, old architecture in Prague!
Sitting down for lunch...the white church behind us (which you can hardly see in this picture) is where we went for two concerts.
Old Town Square...and my finger.
Look closely...it's our family standing in the middle of Wenceslas Square.

We rented a car in Paris and drove through Germany to Czech. The highlight of the drive: all five of us fell asleep in the car . . . almost resulting in a bad accident . . . praise God that there were no other cars on the highway near us at that moment! We got into Prague very late and finally managed to find our hostel—called "Sir Toby's." We all loved it and really enjoyed our time here. We visited the Prague Castle, walked across the Charles Bridge, walked down Wenceslas Square, wandered around Old Town Square, went to two concerts (Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, and Dvorak--so GREAT!!), almost got eaten by wild dogs (not really, but we were sitting on a curb eating lunch and a bunch of dogs with giant muzzles started attacking one another and their owners seemed to enjoy it . . . totally freaked Jack out, and we were all a little shaken up, too . . . very weird experience), and met up with Jonathan and Marika once more for dinner.

Vienna--1 1/2 days

Jack and Eric on the metro...on our way to Schunbrunn Palace.
This is not the greatest picture; I had a hard time fitting the whole palace into one picture. This is the front entrance to the palce, but there are extensive gardens and grounds behind this building, that we explored.
They built this monument to honor Roman "contributors"; it is interesting to see the difference in architecture from other Viennese buildings and ruins. This is one of the large gardens on the grounds. This is the back side of the palace; behind this garden is a large fountain, and then standing behind that on a huge hill is another large building, where they used to dine and overlook the city.
This picture is taken from the fountain; yes, I'm actually climbing in the statues, and yes, that is my finger, and yes, that is Eric somewhere at the bottom taking video footage.
This is the "dining room" up at the top of the hill. You can't really see the hill from this picture, but I assure you, it was not an easy climb! Beautiful views, though! That's downtown Vienna behind us, past the palace.
Here you can see the fountain, and then in the distance, the dining room monument. The palace grounds continue behind the hill, as well as off to the left and right of this picture. There were so many things to cover and we didn't make it to everything...and we didn't even go inside the Palace!
My dad got a little tired and fell asleep here. A professional photographer walked by and was so amused that he took a couple shots of him like this!
Our favorite ice cream shop...notice the towers of cones stacked up...they had so many flavors, and it was delicious! Mmm. (Yes, my finger makes an appearance once again)
Happy travellers.

We stayed at an adorable bed and breakfast a little bit outside of downtown Vienna . . . also very nice accommodations. The first morning we visited the amazing Hapsburg summer home (Schunbrunn Palace), which was just beautiful. I wish we had had time to take the inside tour, but the line was way too long. So we just walked around the grounds--which they say are four times the length of the palace! I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have this as your backyard!

That afternoon we took a tour of the Vienna Opera house, where (among many other important events) Eric’s dad once danced at the annual New Years’ Ball. After that we sat in a Starbucks to cool down (the bathrooms had black lighting!!)—after carrying Jack in the Baby Bjorn all morning at the palace and then all over the Opera house, my legs were really hurting. Then we went to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, but it was very dark inside and we couldn’t see much (it was about to close). The organist was practicing, though, so that was neat to hear. St. Stephen’s is really stunning from the outside…one of my favorites in Europe. And, once again, we enjoyed delicious gelato—I think our best yet! (see the picture)

We decided that we would take a little bit longer route to Venice by driving through Salzburg, Austria, so we could see the Alps. It was SO worth it! Eric and I would like to come back to Austria someday and do Vienna and Salzburg all over again…I’ve been to both places twice now and I still want to go back! Eric’s dad lived in Vienna for awhile and so there is a lot that we would like to see there that we didn’t have time for on this trip. Maybe next year.

Venice--the most miserable 24 hours of the trip

This picture says it all...poor Dad! Read ahead to find out why...
Ah, Venice. You know, Venice has such a reputation for being so unique and beautiful…and it is, but there are SO MANY tourists that it’s hard to focus on the sights and architecture because you are crammed into these tiny streets with so many other people. Anyway, it is beautiful. But goodness-did we have an adventure here! (Warning: very long story about to ensue!!) We got in very late due to our Salzburg stop, and then had trouble finding the parking garage on the mainland. We finally got all of our stuff and headed, on foot, through the canals and up and over countless bridges (yes, with the stroller, Pack N Play, and all other various baby equipment. Thank you, Dad and Eric, for carrying it!!). We got to our hotel, and amazingly they still had the rooms for us. However, it was not the best night of sleep—the windows were open (no AC) and I got bit by mosquitoes all night long. In the morning, I counted about 8 bites on Jack . . . felt HORRIBLE about that. But the worst was yet to come...

I went downstairs to meet my parents, who had gone to the market to get some breakfast, and found them sitting on a bench. My dad looked funny and I cheerfully said, "Is everything okay?" He just looked at me and said, "No." He then proceeded to painfully recount his trip to the market . . . including the part where he was pick-pocketed . . . and his whole wallet was gone. Driver's licenses, credit cards, debit cards, all his cash, insurance cards, papers for our car lease, the parking lot card (which comes into play later) . . . fortunately the hotel had held their passports, so they didn't lose those. To add to my dad’s misery, the hotel owner was very mean and berated my dad for not having money to pay for the hotel, as he would only accept cash. Finally, he said he would take a credit card, so Eric and I passed over ours. Unfortunately, after that transaction, our credit card (unbeknownst to us) was frozen because we didn't call to let them know we were leaving the country (I didn't know we should do that!) . . . so that left us without very many options...




At this point we are determined to at least get over to San Marco to see the big square and a bit of the Adriatic Sea, since we have hardly seen any of Venice in the daylight. However, we are in a time crunch, because we have to get to Rome by 9 pm or we could lose our apartment there . . . and we have a 5 hour drive ahead of us. SO . . . we collect all our things . . . yes, all the baby stuff, too . . . and head for San Marco. Since we have no money for a taxi or water bus, we head out on foot. This is an amusing picture, as you can imagine, especially since we are all super-paranoid now about our pockets and bags and are constantly checking our backs . . . We wind through the little streets, not exactly sure where we are and lacking a great map. Every now and then we see “San Marco” (with an arrow) spray-painted on a building and so we just keep hoping that it’s the right way. Also, since we don't have any money, we are getting more and more hungry...

I have to stop here and tell a little side story that really helped lighten our dreary mood. All over Europe you will find these people on the street who stand there like statues, usually dressed in one solid color, with their face painted to match. I saw a lady dressed as an Egyptian mummy in Paris, and a man dressed in all gold in Vienna. The thing is, they hold very still and thus they look like statues. Well, we are headed down the streets of Venice, and I see Eric up ahead, walking towards this white statue (he noticed a book in its hand and he went up to look and see what it was). Suddenly, the "statue" lunges forward at Eric with this loud roar and a huge open mouth and wide eyes, and totally FREAKS Eric out . . . who then trips over all the luggage he's carrying and staggers all the way across the street with his hand over his heart — all this, much to all the onlookers’ (and the "statue's") delight. I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt. It was good to laugh together after our crazy morning . . . I just wish I had the video camera rolling!! (Notice the re-enactment photo above) Well, back to the journey . . .




FINALLY, we get to San Marco, enjoy the view, take pictures, head out to the coast and take more pictures. It’s beautiful . . . but we are in such a rush! We decide to head to one of the main brides across the Grand Canal, and then try to buy water bus tickets with our credit card (didn't know it was frozen at this point). So we wind around again, following spray-painted signs, stop to attempt a phone call to my parent's bank and credit card company — which proves incredibly frustrating because the people "helping" don't speak English very well, and there are innumerable complications. We eventually make it to the bridge, only to discover that they don't take credit cards. So we find a cash station, and Eric and I get out cash with our debit card. We get water bus tickets, and quickly hop on a waiting bus . . . relieved that we are on our way, only an hour late...

However . . .We got on the wrong bus!! The parking garage we were trying to get to is at the north end of the canal. But we started noticing along the way that we were passing familiar sights that were near San Marco . . . which was in the opposite direction we needed to go. In all our uncertainty, we decided to stick it out, thinking that surely it would loop around in a big circle. This was half-true. Unfortunately, it went all the way to San Marco, and ACROSS to another island before it turned around and slowly wound it's way back past all the stops we had already passed, and slowly, slowly (kept feeling slower and slower!) back to our parking garage. (I have to add here that as much as it was a terribly frustrating experience, my favorite part of the trip so far was this little boat trip . . . .I LOVED being out on the ocean water with such beautiful views!!! Jack loved it, too! See the picture below) So now we are almost three hours late. But not to worry — we are back to the car, all packed up and strapped in, ready to go. We get to the gate . . . but we have no ticket (remember the stolen wallet??)!! We can't leave without a ticket, and the little man standing there won't let us through, no matter what. So we have to BACK UP, through the lines of cars, in a stick shift car, and then park randomly in the middle somewhere. Eric and Dad go running back to the info desk and have to put their acting skills to work as they pantomime what happened to my dad, in order to help them understand why we don't have our ticket. They finally get it, give us a new ticket and . . . we are on the road. Wow. We were so glad to leave that place!! (Another note: Keep in mind that these car rides are often filled with crying, as Jack HATES to sit in his car seat. Also, he inevitably wakes up and is hungry as soon as we have finally found our way and get on the road. So as soon as we left Venice, he started crying and screaming and we had to pull over to feed him. Such is life, I guess.)


Whew . . . on the road to Rome now . . .

Roma--4 days

Welcome to the Appian Way, one of the oldest roads into Rome!
The Appian Way is lined with Christian graves, since they could not bury their dead inside the city walls.
This is my mom standing outside the doors into our apartment building.
The back side of our building...we hung Jack's bibs out on this line to dry! There was also a young man across the way who would sing and play along with various Ricky Martin songs every afternoon...quite to our delight...as he was not good, but very enthusiastic; it was very humorous.
Our market was across from this church, just a few blocks from our apartment. We would take Jack's stroller (minus Jack) and fill it with groceries for the walk home.
The Arch of Titus
Looking down on the ruins of the Roman forum from Palatine Hill.
More ruins...Caesar's tomb, the Celestian gardens (in front) and other amazing things!!
Palatine Hill (I did not get any good pictures up here...this one does not do it justice at all!!! This is so small it was probably a servant's quarters or something...)
Looking up at Palatine Hill.

The Colosseum





This would have been under the arena floor, where they kept the animals and prisoners and gladiators.
VERY old brick.
The next two pictures are of the line to Vatican City...and in both pics the line continues to wind around corners, out of the picture. We were in line for at least 1 1/2 hours!

Getting bored in line...
We all wore these little headsets for the tour...but Dad fell asleep during the explanation of Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel.
St. Peter's Basilica.
St. Peter's Square
Eric, in St. Peter's Square

We made it to Rome around 11 pm and the lady was waiting for us in her car, bless her heart! We followed her into the building to find this charming little apartment, with a kitchen!! We loved this place . . . we stayed here for four days. My sister and Jonathan met up with us for the last 2 days. It was about three blocks north of the Colosseum, so it was a great location as well. The first day was spent catching up on our sleep and letting Jack get a good nap, going to the local grocery store, driving by the ancient ruins, and doing laundry at the Laundromat. Not the most exciting day; we wish that we had done more, but we were so exhausted from the last few days that I think we were all a little burned out.

The next day we got a slow start as well, as my parents spent most of the morning returning the car (had trouble because the papers were in the stolen wallet) and trying to make phone calls to their bank. I swear this could be a Chevy Chase vacation movie, with all the mishaps. My poor dad spent SO long on the phone, trying to work out the money thing . . . during the first phone call they were about to tell him where he could pick up the money and his phone card ran out. He called back and amazingly got the SAME person! As she told him the name of a bank it got really loud by the pay phone, so he leaned in to hear her better, and hit the receiver button…hanging up AGAIN! I think he almost went into cardiac arrest at this point. See the picture I put in this section—his expression says it all. Anyway, it all worked out—he found the bank, but it took my parents half the day. They also stopped at the Appian Way, the first main road into the city; this road is also lined with many Christian graves, since they could not bury their dead inside the city. We wanted to go so bad but just couldn't make it (somehow everything takes longer with a baby). Eric and I finally decided to walk around a bit so we just went down and walked by the Colosseum, various other ruins, and then down to Palatine Hill to look around.

Later that night my sister and Jonathan arrived at the apartment just as my parents arrived, so we all went down to the Colosseum together and made it just in time for the last tour – amazing! It was so weird to be there, especially after seeing that movie, “Gladiator” (one of my favorites!) and also reading some books that took place during the height of Rome.

After this we took taxis to a different part of the city for a “night walk”—we had this great guide book that mapped out a mile walk of some great sights and restaurants. This was one of my FAVORITE meals of the trip…they had amazing salads, and the pasta was, of course, delicious. I don’t remember the names of all the monuments we passed, but there were a couple fountains that were pretty impressive. Oh—and we walked by the Pantheon. My pictures didn’t turn out because it was too dark, but it was very surreal to see it. We got a little lost and finally ended up taking a taxi home, but not before . . . enjoying some more gelato (I know…not a great way to get rid of my baby weight!).

The next day we all went to Palatine Hill for a tour. I had never heard of this before our trip, but this is the first palace in Rome. In fact, the word palace comes from this place. It was very impressive; apparently each ruler that lived here wanted it to be more impressive, so they all added on to it . . . it was humongous! It was so interesting—there are places where you can still see the marble floors, and if you pour water on them the colors come out; our guide said that you could tell which lands they had conquered by the color of the marble, since it all comes from different regions. SO many interesting stories here. At the end of the tour we were overlooking the Roman forum and other ruins just west of the Colosseum. Ancient baths, churches, the burial place of Caesar, the gardens of the celestial virgins . . . I was so fascinated and thrilled to see world history right before my eyes. Supposedly the prison that the Apostle Paul was held in is among those ruins, but I forgot to ask our guide about it. Next time . . .

Later that night I cooked an authentic Italian meal (only because all the ingredients were bought in Italy)—it was very yummy. We sat around this tiny table, and had such a great night catching up on all of our travels. Much later that night, my sister watched baby Jack while Eric and I went to the Spanish Steps . . . in the rain. But it was nice to have a little date in Rome.

Our last day, we got up at 7 or so (very early for us) because we had to be at Vatican City by 9 to meet our tour guide from the previous days (she was so great, we followed her around!). We stood in line for about 1 ½ hours (again, not so good on my back, with Jack asleep in the Bjorn!)—see the pictures of the line . . . those pictures go end to end . . . and on each end the line goes around the block! It was worth it, though. We first walked through the museum . . . we all had these earphones on, and so as our guide talked with microphones she didn’t have to yell . . . which was nice—also guaranteed you would hear her. We saw some amazing works of art . . . especially the Sistine Chapel. Wow! You can’t take pictures, and you can’t even talk (I was so embarrassed because Jack chose this quiet moment to let us know that he was VERY HUNGRY . . . so as we are trying to enjoy the ceiling (and not fall over as we lean back) we are also rapidly mixing a bottle on the floor, trying not to get trampled.

Then we moved on to St. Peter’s Basilica . . . words cannot describe how beautiful and stunning this is . . . just amazing. Unfortunately we did not have very much time here, as we had to get back for our flight to Paris. So we did a quick run through, literally (so hard not to spend more time here!!), and then out to St. Peter’s square. I remember seeing this in my Art History textbook, and also on the TV when they elected Pope Benedict (the day we brought Jack home from the hospital). We took a taxi back to the hotel, frantically packed up all our stuff, headed for a bus station, to take us to the airport.

This also proved to be a major headache . . . we had SO much trouble getting on the flight: too much luggage (a plane ticket cost about $60 or so and they were going to charge us over $200 for our luggage!), my sister's ticket was booked in her married name, but her passport was still in her maiden name . . . argued over and over with the airlines and finally had to pay $60 to change her name on the flight list. In the end things were so crazy (they would only accept credit cards for the luggage—imagine that!! My sister and Jonathan's cards had also been frozen because they were using it overseas . . . so ALL we had was my debit card and some cash . . . none of which they would accept) so they finally just waived the fee and looked the other way. We took a nervous flight to Paris (the landing was so shaky, the passengers actually applauded when we landed, which kind of summed up our experience) Oh my.

Read ahead for the ending of our adventures...