The Stewart Blog

For the second hotel in a row we have a rather trying internet connection. Sometimes we can see sites we want, other times we can’t. And we definitely can’t read articles on washingtonpost.com so we don’t know the details or Strasburg’s injury or Chelsea Clinton’s wedding.

But more importantly, we can’t post pictures. We hope to have a better connection in Venice and catch up then. I’ve had better luck with the internet on the lobby computers, but I don’t use those for blogging.

Our arrival in Florence was horrible. Well, actually not exactly our arrival since that was pretty perfect as the train was great and I quickly found an information stand with a map and directions to our hotel, so it was the stepping out of the train station that was horrible: the rain was coming down in torrents.

If we had planned to take a cab this would have been workable, but our hotel was only “150 meters” from the station so we had planned on walking. (Believe me, my children have pointed out that it was much farther than 150 meters.)

So it was back into the train station to wait out the rain. Not a bad option since it had plenty of food and space and people to watch and ticket machines so I could check times for our train to Venice. But after one shared piece of pizza and cup of ice cream (in disguise as gelato) we were ready to try walking since the rain seemed to be letting up. It must have been watching us because as soon as we were across the street and past the point of turning back, it started pouring again.

You know the term “gully washer?” Well, we were in one and the water flowed in rivers next to the curbs so each time we crossed one we had to lift our suitcases so they would go over instead of through four inches of water. When the rain was particularly torrential and there was a convenient overhang we stopped and watched the rain with everyone else clustered under the overhang.

But we did find our hotel and the room is huge and lovely. However, the wet clothes strewn around don’t help the décor. john and I had rainish coats and Scotty and Caitlin had umbrellas but we still all had to change. Plus various of articles inside our suitcases got wet. Still it could have been worse and despite our mad dash I’m quite taken with Florence. Even when very, very wet it is charming and interesting.

And while Louise found the people in Rome to be rude, so far I’ve found the Florence ones quite charming. The low point of our walk was when I came to Number 77 on our street and it was basically a wall. I quickly ducked into the café across from the wall bearing the number and showed my hotel information to a lady in the café who promptly and in very good humor told me it was on the other side of the intersection. “Trust me!” she proclaimed. “It is there.” Actually, she was very Louise like so I instinctively believed her. Anyway, she was right. I now understand why the lady at the information booth said she couldn’t tell me which way to turn. The numbers on our side started at 81, went up, then down to 40, and finally, 77.

Our morning was going great, despite the grumbling about getting up too early, until we stepped off the subway at the Coliseum and Scotty realized his wallet was lost. He said “lost” at first, but he was just in denial; the rest of us immediately used the word “stolen”.

We think it was the two young women who were very slow to move out of way when we tried to get off the subway. Perhaps it included the young man who had been sharing our pole with us. Either way, someone got the wallet. We looked around for the police station the people at the subway mentioned, but never found it so we went onto the Coliseum instead. (We later filed a police report at the train station, but that is more for our credit than in hopes of recovery.)

When we got back to our hotel I logged onto my accounts and checked my email. We had alerts from the credit card companies about strange activity and I indicated that we were not the ones spending the money. Only one specified an amount which was for $650 so they were definitely a busy shopping group. We think we are okay with a back up credit card, but I’m sure we’ll have more to work out at home.

The rest of the day went well – the Coliseum and then lunch followed by the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s. More on that when I have a good enough internet connection to post pictures.

For our first afternoon in Rome I’d planned a walkabout – a swing by the Termini and then various plazas and other sights so we’d have a feel for seeing the city without having to be anywhere at any particular time so if our plane was late it didn’t matter. This walk, despite having studied the map ahead of time, was easier said than done. I don’t think anyone gets anywhere too quickly in Rome. I’m sure the rambling, narrow streets which veer off in odd directions are part of the charm, but they did turn finding our destinations into a guessing game.

We got good at telling when we were close to a destination by the increasing number of gelato shops and restaurants. And we realized that following other tourists was usually pretty effective. Although I didn’t fully trust the ones holding maps, but since that was many of them we did anyway. Actually our map reading skills weren’t really that bad and we got good at spotting signs that led us to the different plazas. Ultimately we did manage to see just about everything we set out to and found a bus that took us directly back to our hotel so we feel like we have a handle on the city.

Sightseeing wise I think the Trevi Fountain was a low point for me. Okay, it is a wonderful fountain with great statues and a striking setting, but when it is shoulder to shoulder with people is loses something.

The Pantheon absolutely made up for it. We walked in and I was immediately charmed by the wonderful space. It was one of those places you could just hang out in all day. Well, at least I could. We all have expectations when we travel and while this has been near the top of my must see list it out did my expectations. It was bigger and more light filled than I imagined and it was much more than just an architecturally interesting dome and building especially the floor with its different colored marble circles echoing in the hole in the ceiling.

Tomorrow: an Ancient Rome tour which will include the Coliseum and the Sistine Chapel.

Usually Socks are Lucky are underfoot. But they weren’t this morning when it was time to go to the kennel. And they didn’t appear when I called them for food. This was suspicious so I looked all over the house from basement to our upstairs bathroom. Still no Socks and Lucky. The kitten was out front and happy to come in and eat. So I re-searched the house and the garage and out front, and then decided to check the backroom of the basement. Sure enough, they were at the very back of it. Lucky looked guilty and Socks mad when I found them.

I’m not surprised they knew something was up, but did they discuss this and plan ahead or did one follow the other? Or did they know that since they are both so old I’d be asked by the kennel that if the worst happened, did I want them frozen or cremated.

Just in time for our trip the New York Times thoughtfully put together a “36 Hours in Florence, Italy” piece. Sadly, it isn’t really what I need. Instead of focusing on sights and bike rides and places to sample olive oil it details lots of interesting places to eat and we aren’t going for the food. At least not the kind that the article highlights.

What I could really use is a guide to the best gelato and ravioli. I’ve promised my family at least one gelato stop a day and I’ve been craving ravioli ever since I started planning this trip. I’ve found that the ravioli around here generally lacks a certain something that I hope to find in Italy.

We leave tomorrow - Monday - but have to fly through Detroit first. Then we have two nights in Rome, four in Florence, and two in Venice.

John and I spent yesterday at Assateague and I learned two important things. First, bring a friend to the beach with John. Second, don’t wear a tankini to boogie board in.

The friend is useful for keeping John happily occupied while I read my book. However, the waves were so rough that I would have been swimming alongside them anyway so the lack of a friend wasn’t an issue. I don’t think I’ve ever been in surf that was so pounding and unforgiving. When the waves pulled away, instead of a little bit of sand pulling away from my feet the water carved out a canyon.

We frolicked in the waves, but not for as long as we might have since we were fighting the water the whole time and often getting smashed by the waves. Today my arms are sore from holding so tightly to my boogie board. There were plenty of people at the shore’s edge, but few really ventured beyond knee deep and most didn’t even go that far. A couple of times we did go out beyond where the waves broke, but found there was a pretty strong northwardly drift so didn’t spend too much time out there. I felt a little better about how we handled the surf when I saw a rather large man get knocked down by the waves when he turned his head for a moment.

The tankini brought about its own set of problems. First, the skirt kept flipping up and every time I stood up after riding in and I had to smooth it back down. Or rather peal it away from my back and flip it into place. Next, when the waves are pushing you along the sea bottom, it isn’t nice to have your top slide up so your belly can grate against the sand. Finally, when I went to the bathroom later and started to pull the bottoms down an entire beach worth of sand threatened to fall out. So I had to go take an unplanned shower to deal with the issue. Next time, I’m wear a regular suit, even if it is my purple one which John says makes me look fat.

Our family dinners are smaller these days as we are losing kids to camp. Last week Caitlin went to field hockey camp and this week John is at boy scout camp. It was Caitlin’s third year at the same camp and John’s first year at Goshen so our comfort levels with them being gone are a little bit different.

Caitlin’s departure was a breeze. For one thing, she knew everything to pack and did it herself. We drove down; ate lunch at the place we always eat; she signed herself in while I parked; we carried her stuff up; I made her bed while she unpacked; and then I left. Easy-peasey.

John required a lot more work. First of all, we had to buy him a pack and boots this week. Then we had to pack. And when I say “we” I mean that I reminded him numerous times to collect certain things like his flashlight and scout book and knife himself before I finally helped him find them. Then I matched his clothes up in four nice outfit-for-a-day bags. Then I helped him logically stuff everything into his pack with his rain jacket on top and his shoes tied on the side. Then I made him put in the flashlight and knife in a place that he would easily find them. And then I said, “I’m putting the flashlight and knife in here. John, are you watching?”

I suppose I worked just as hard on packing Caitlin off to her first year at camp so there is hope for John. The other difference about them being at camp is Caitlin was just a text message away. (As is Caroline.) There is a lot of comfort in that. John on the other hand is completely out of touch for a week. The most I’m going to get is by checking in with a neighbor whose husband is accompanying the boys for the first three days of the trip. I already have, of course, and so far the report is everything is going well and the boys are all happy.

I hope so. Because the last time I saw John he was standing in the pouring rain with water dripping off of his hair and pack which was covered in a plastic trash bag. The bus was late and it was raining hard at the drop off. I waited almost an hour with him before I finally had to leave to pick up Caitlin from her camp so I didn’t see them get on the bus. He didn’t mind me leaving early - he was having a great time with his buddies.

On the other hand, I could tell his socks were wet and dirty when I left and I’m not sure if they’ll get changed at all this week. While I sent him with four bags of clean clothes, if the stories of previous Goshen trips are accurate, the chances of him changing even twice are pretty low.

Update: The report from my mole is that the boys are happy and having fun. John passed his swimming test (swimming 75 yards using some sort of freestyle then and 25 yards backstroke) which means he can work on the canoeing merit badge.

I know tomatoes don’t appear until July so I was really surprised to see two cute, little yellow tomatoes on our yellow cherry tomato bush. According to John they were very good. I know it must be these new fangled plants not me that is causing this early and tasty production. I’m also not taking any credit for my pumpkin plant that has decided to climb a tree.

Last Wednesday was the Stratford Landing Band concert. This would be a charming event if there weren’t so many students and accompanying parents. However, both the fifth and sixth grade bands seemed to have at least 50 or 60 kids each and all those kids have lots of relatives so the gym was packed beyond capacity and spilled into the hallway. Scotty and I were pressed against the side wall but we did have a very good view of John who plays trumpet. The sixth grade band was very, very impressive. The fifth grade was good for a group of first year band students.

I could attribute the quality of the concert to Stratford Landing just being full of talented musicians, but I know it is really the result of a very hard working band director, Jane Morgan, who over the years has put together a great program. She’s done a great job of attracting kids to band and then running her classes so the kids really learn something and for the most part practice enough to be able to really play. The kids all know that band (and strings and chorus) are cool things to do. When fifth grade rolls many kids don’t question the idea that they will join the band, but instead wonder what instrument they will play and should they give up their string instrument that they started in fourth grade.

This year one of the budget items that was on the Fairfax County chopping block was the music program and we are so happy it was spared. This concert (and I’m sure the strings concert that immediately followed it) showed how much elementary school students can learn when given the opportunity to play and to have such good instructors teach them.