Insiders Italy

Last minute (once my passport was released from the residency permit process), we booked a trip to Italy for Spring Break - prompted by our goal to get to our friends' (the Belli's) house near Bologna.

Flying on Hungary's low cost carrier - Wizz Air (think Southwest without the friendly personnel) - got us to Milan directly.  A few hours later (not short hours - I suspect the shorter your kids, the longer the car hours), we arrived in their village of Marola.  

Having only been in urban Italy before, I was surprised how lush & green is was....

We had a fab time hanging out with Clara, Paolo & Gio and so enjoyed an 'insiders view' of their area.  

Highlights included, a trip to the Parmigiano Regiano cheese factory.....

(the kids distracted by the cheesy smell!)

A hike around an amazing lake....

(We weren't entirely prepared for the snow still on the ground - I'm not sure my lecture 'now you will listen next time I suggest you pack layers' sunk in - but one has to try)  

And some fantastic meals...including these amazing donut like things served with cheese, meat etc

And pizza I can't stop dreaming about....

(Zoe guarding 'hers')

Best of all was the fun hanging out....jumping...

worm & bug catching.....

Housing their new friends in construction vehicles....

A whole fleet of them....

(Thanks Belli's for showing us good times & guiding us to more Italian adventures)


From there, we road tripped to Florence & a small coastal town (Follonica) with a quick stop in Pisa along the way.

Among those, Quincy reported Pisa was his favorite due to the allure of the leaning tower.. 

We were pleasantly surprised to learn that you CAN climb up it again (was closed for ~12 years to stabilize).  The boys & I headed up.....

(while Xavier can pass for 8, that's a stretch for Zoe)

And dang - you could really feel the tilt in the climb!

Zoe & Xavier reported their favorite was the beach - likely due to the time to just screw around...playing in the sand.....

hurling sand balls at each other....

(yes, our boys who consider sweat pants both clothes AND pajamas, also wear them as beach attire)

and burying one another....

(kind of a scared looking happy, no?!)

With fond memories, pink cheeks & slightly smaller clothes, we returned home with a load of Italian delicacies......

As well as a taste of home to get us through to summer....

(Yes, we have LOADS of crackers here, but 'they just aren't the same' according to Q.  Considering our frequency of hauling brownie mix, frosting & cake sprinkles, we can hardly protest)

Here's to Spring Break & hoping the worm & bug catching passion didn't make it back with us too

Kyiv Stay-cation & another typically random day

It has been a few weeks since I've posted - during that gap I can't claim a cohesive theme has emerged.....the random highlights: 


"Asses Up"
We were in town during the kids' spring break week 2 weeks back - with loads of snow still on the ground we focused on indoor entertainment - e.g. the local water park.  The boys spent a lot of time in the water football pitch.....

My favorite part was the water slide attendant (after hearing us speaking English) instructing Quincy & I "asses up"!


Train Rides like old times 
We've been wanting to take a train journey after both nostalgically talking about trips across Europe (me) & Russia (Logan) full of card games, bread, cheese & beer dinners some 20 years ago.  We took a 5-hour express train to Lviv (west side of Ukraine) for a weekend - the card games & beer took us both back.....

....sadly, I fear our grandkids will be nostalgic about iPads on trains

Terrorizing Tourists
Lviv was a quant little town - small enough to get around on foot - and with a friendly Western European feel to it.  

The kids wildly weaving in & out of the many pedestrians on the main square didn't appear to bother anyone - and was a definite highlight

(spot the 3 wild riders?)

Art, trips, spa services & the M&M dude
Last weekend, our school had a benefit gala.  I organized the auction portion - can you tell?

(Among other things, we 'won' a trip to a wine chateau in Moldova!  Auction winning could be considered a 'core competency' for Logan and I)

A day in Kyiv: random delights
Other than that, we've just been doing regular stuff around town.  That said, the cheap thrills are plentiful.  Today's points of interest....

A smoldering garbage can no one gives a second glance

Scrappy hauling  & a Bentley on the same 5 minute drive.... 

And yet another random cause for a traffic jam on our street.....

(a crane loading a rusty old boat - why not?!  I swear, we ARE on a residential street!)

Lord knows what in our yard....

(supposedly it is fertilizer - but the gardener was wearing a mask while applying it - safety measures are NOT the norm here - and advised we keep the kids off the grass for a few days.  Must be some toxic sh@*)

A Chicago like festival near our house - and of all things - to celebrate Earth Day....

(food vendors, a band stand, hand made crafts for sale - honestly, I was starting to wonder where I was)

The 'play structures' in a nearby park...

And an 'assertive' sign on the neighboring house to one of our friends...

(ah, yes, we ARE in Kiev!)

So here's to stay-cations & finding the entertaining in the neighborhood

Ukrainian Driving RULES!

Before we moved here, several people advised one really should get a driver - the roads are sketchy, the drivers chaotic etc.  But after being behind the wheel for over a year here, I can honestly say, I love Ukrainian driving!

OK I'll admit to the warts first....


Distracted drivers, invisible signals & confusing corners
Yes, one does have to contend with distracted drivers (It seems 80% are on the phone - no earbuds or bluetooth)

Intersections can be plain confusing.  It took me about a year to brave this 5 way one near our house...

And since intersections tend to only have 1 set of lights (on the closer side), when you pull all the way forward you can't see the light

(note: the white line is still several meters in front of where I stopped to get this shot)

To know when to go you:
     a) crane your neck up & try to see (I could really use a moon roof)
     b) watch the lights going perpendicular (only works for the ~20% square intersections)
     c) wait till the person behind you honks


I tend to go with C


But what I DO love about the driving here......


Entertaining Road Partners
I've often thought cars have gotten more generic & somewhat boring in the past few decades.  If you agree, come visit Ukraine!  The breadth of ages, types & functionality is quite entertaining  

Old Soviet era Lada's are fairly common - but so are Hyundai SUVs

And I've never lived anywhere with a greater incidence of random construction vehicles

Friendly Flashes
I've also never been anywhere with so many traffic cops.  But the good news, is that people flash like mad.  A cop up ahead?  I'm almost always warned with a flash of the headlights.

Tight squeeze?  When you let someone merge in, they almost always flash their hazards to say thanks

(the bottom of our street)

Full service fuel (only)
Need I say more?  I haven't pumped gas in almost 2 years - love it!


Best of all...
Flexible Road Rules & Creative Solutions
I've mentioned before how I love the liberation of being able to park anywhere.  For example,

My gym has a chaotic parking lot....

So I avoid it & simply park down the road.  
There's never any spots open on the nearby side street - but no problem - there's a nice sidewalk

(Luckily the sidewalks are often quite wide.  On this one, I can even pull all the way on)

But even better are the flexible roads.  Today a main artery was at a dead stop.  So I followed a line of cars making their own path....

The mud patch met up with a dirt path (must have been for pedestrians) as it included some stairs - again no problem - we just veered around...

So while it is common to hire drivers here (and not just for celebrities or oligarchs), I'm enjoying the cheap thrills too much to be passenger

So here's to hitting the road & the freedom of chaos

A white Easter

A belated Happy Easter!  

What's been going on in Kiev?  Loads of talk about the weather:

• "I've been here my whole life and never seen anything like it"
• "The most snow on record in 100 years" 

While it was a bit depressing to get snow AND rain on Saturday...... 

......I was nearly teary eyed to see city workers actually shoveling 

(with both major storms this year, several heads of the street cleaning department have been fired for poor performance)

Needless to say, the Easter bunny hid the eggs indoors this year & all was good

Until Zoe dropped & cracked her favorite one...

And while you'd surely miss the holiday if you relied on in-store cues to remind you - look REALLY hard & you can find a few Easter items

(Yes, this is the extent of the commercial side of Easter here.  This is all I've seen after scouring several stores)

My faves - crazy efficient 'egg sleeves'

While you DON'T see egg dyes in store (our babysitter told us how to use potatoe skins to dye eggs a nice shade of brown), they DO have these fab 'shrinky- dink-like' egg sleeves that make adding intricate designs a breeze!

Just slide the sleeve over your egg, drop it in hot water

3-5 seconds later...

Presto!

So while the jelly beans & bunny ears had to be imported via post (thanks Nana!), we were pretty excited about finding a cool holiday item here that I've never seen at Target or Walgreens.

Hope your Easter was festive!