Going home finally! What?

Note: always keep spare clothes in your carry on…we didn’t and we spent three days in the same clothes, apparently the airlines don’t like to retrieve bags on cancelled flights and I didn’t think it was going to be three long days in the same pair of pants, shirt, socks…well you get the picture.  We were notified the night before that we had an 8:30am pickup for the airport and that our flight would be leaving about noon.   We enjoyed a delicious breakfast, packed and headed to the airport.  We went to the ticket agents and they inform us that our boarding passes and seats are still valid and that all we have to do is show up for the flight….flight gets delayed till 2:00pm then 3:00pm then finally we hear boarding call at nearly 4:00pm – we head to the gate give the gate keepers our tickets…problem!  The airlines bumped us to the 7:30pm flight!  Those that know me, what happens next will be shocking….I claim temporary insanity.  I lost it; I started yelling at the gate agents (who started being rude first..which put me over the edge) to the point security decided to come watch the event unfold.  The ticket agent couldn’t explain why or what happened but the best they could offer me is a ten-euro meal voucher for each of us….have you been in an airport that’s enough for a slice of toast!  I can’t really control my anger and frustration at that point and I storm off to keep myself from going to jail.  I needed every bit of that extra four hours to calm back down.  Finally we get on the plane, after another fifty-minute delay land in Kiev after midnight and after our normally three hour drive extended due to snow conditions turns into four and half hours we finally make it home.  Only I have to get up in a few hours to go into work; whoever said, “If you’re not exhausted from your vacation, you didn’t really have a vacation”…..I’d like to punch that dude.

We’re turning this plane around:

This is actualy painted to
make the room look bigger

Chocolate bunny anyone?!

As you can imagine although we had a nice and well, interesting time in Italy, after all the issues and starvation, we were glad to be heading back home to Slavutich and having the weekend to recover from our big adventure.  Well, we should have known better…all was going fantastic, we got to the Naples airport no issues, great flight to Munich, had a long layover but we were well planned and had snacks and treats, water and everything we needed.  Boarded, took off, smooth ride….announcement “ladies and gentlemen, there is a blizzard occurring in Kiev and the airport has been closed….we are returning to Munich”….you gotta be kidding me (this is a late flight too).  We have to circle for a while because we have too much fuel to land; once we finally land we are all herded to the service center and put on a bus to our hotel.  Nice hotel, the kids pass out exhausted, we have a great breakfast and find out our plane has been canceled for the day so we head into Munich for the afternoon.  Great city and probably turned into one of our highlights because the day went smooth for once on this trip.

A week without dinner:

Happy Birthday Ton!

Survival Food

Alright, We’re in Italy and as you can imagine there is no shortage of delicious food!  However, it’s all good as long as you leave enough time to eat; all week long, we were late getting to our hotel, getting lost, catching trains, buses etc… well after Capri and many other crazy excursions we missed dinners all week…we’ve been surviving on a good breakfast, and then pastries and gelato throughout the day.  This day (second to last day) we decided to relax on the beach and head into town around 4pm see a local castle, grab a hearty dinner and turn in for an early night with good rest.  We scheduled an 8pm shuttle back to the hotel, figuring we would grab dinner at 6ish…The castle didn’t work out (no buses).  Just rolling with the change in plans, we grabbed some gelato and some fresh bread, Italian cheeses and meats to snack on while we enjoyed a sea view sitting in the park…the weather turned fast.  It started pouring rain…we packed up our picnic and ate it on the run we decided to do a little shopping to kill time and then look for our restaurant….guess what at 6pm we get on a wild goose chase trying to find a top rated restaurant finding it only after being soaked to the bone…then to find out they don’t open until 7:30pm….I already know that’s not going to work out, so we head off to find another restaurant…same thing…the town’s restaurants don’t open until 7:30pm…I got a good idea..I’ll just call and tell the shuttle to pick us up later…won’t work, first no cell coverage then no space left on the shuttle at the later time.  Even further soaked the girls are starving and whining so Nichole and I go to the nearest open “fast food” pizza shop and let the girls pick something.  Nichole and I can’t stomach it and decide not to eat….another night without food.

The excursion we didn’t want:

 

Recuperation

This is about our trip to Capri.  The weather hadn’t been all that cooperative and to see the Blue Grotto (in Capri) the weather has to be nearly perfect so we picked the best day to attempt our visit to the Island of Capri and the Blue Grotto.  It takes about an hour to get to Sorrento from our hotel by shuttle and train and then another thirty-five minute high speed hydrofoil ferry ride to Capri.  Ellie and I are sitting together near the front of the boat in the lower deck and Rylie and Nichole are somewhere in the back of the boat (lower deck).  Within the first five minutes of departure, people are laughing and squealing because it feels like we are riding a crazy roller coaster about that same time the crew starts coming around with “barf bags” I know that’s not a good sign especially for Rylie and me.  I use all the tricks I know and tell Ellie what she needs to do to help stave off sea sickness….ten minutes into the trip, the crowd is no longer laughing and we start seeing hands raising in the air for the bags….then it starts, by fifteen minutes into the ride people are hurling into the bags, I’m hanging on by a thread and Ellie is burying her head into my side….then about twenty minutes in, Ellie asks for a bag not hardly a second passes that I got the bag open she lets loose (the mint gelato wasn’t a good idea before the trip) – at that, I have to take my attention off keeping myself together and help Ellie, now the smell the sounds and another big wave comes….there I go into my own bag.  Once we dock and people are trying to get off, there is a garbage can filled with “baggies” and most people are not too eager to move.  I think about a third of the boat couldn’t hold it and another seventy-five percent was on the verge… 



Us heading to the Blue Grotto

In Capri the intent was to take a boat around the island and see the Blue Grotto…that was quickly dismissed and instead we rested for about an hour before we took a winding bus ride to Anacapri where we could head to the Blue Grotto on foot…of course we were told the Blue Grotto was closed but we attempted to walk to it to salvage what we could (we were told it was a mile and half) well after walking for forty-five minutes we gave up (and running out of time) took a bus back to the city center…the only thing we could do at that point is take a chair lift to the top of the Island for some breath taking views and fresh air before we had to head back to get on the what Rylie called the “barf boat”.  We were not too excited about the return trip!  All went well, we got the top deck open air of a slower boat and the winds calmed down so no issues (except it was freezing cold).





Ah, Fresh Air

Beautiful Sunset

Next we had to get home to Salerno…of course as luck would have it, distracted about our plans for dinner as our appetite returned, we missed our stop in Pompeii to transfer trains…when we realized it, we jumped off the train a little too quickly; once we were off and started to look around it was apparent we made a mistake…the place does not look at all friendly (actually the opposite) and it’s not really a station but a “stop” along the way.  There is no one to ask directions, it’s late, dark and we are definitely lost.  All we can do is pray another train will be coming by and stopping soon (we didn’t care which direction).  Another train comes by after about fifteen minutes of near panic on Nichole and mine part.  We have two stops to go to Pompeii…at the first stop there’s an usually long delay then we begin again….the next stop we jump off and we’re confused it’s not Pompeii about ready to freak out we ask a local what happened and where in the world we are.  He kindly informs us that the train was a “green” line and went a different direction….he shows us which track to get on and that we actually have to wait two stops to hit Pompeii on the next train that will be arriving in twenty-five minutes.  Now mind you, this is after a long day traveling to Capri, having little to no food and its late…Nichole and I start getting that giggle that’s between we’ve gone insane and freak out.  The girls are really wondering if we’re ok and what we’re laughing about, when someone on the platform starts burping a song…which puts us all into a belly laugh.  The train comes, we jump on sure enough the second stop is Pompeii, we jump off, but when we look around, it’s not either of the two train stations that we’ve used…apparently Pompeii has at least three train stations….we have about five minutes to catch the last train out of Pompeii for Salerno and about a ten minute walk to the other train station…we get quick directions and we’re off….we get there and the doors are locked we are definitely late..I remember there’s an entrance around the side and we get onto the platform, out of breath, positive we have missed our train we ask a local how we might get to Salerno (we didn’t see any taxis)…there happens to be one last train to Salerno!  In another twenty-five minutes we get on the last train for Salerno and arrive without any further hiccups (not exactly true but insignificant in comparison) – I called the hotel while in route and the shuttle driver kindly waited an extra thirty minutes from our scheduled pick up for us to arrive…needless to say, when we saw him we were so relived to be going home safe and sound….even if it meant no dinner for the day.

Pompeii:

Definitely the highlight of the trip for Nichole and (I think the girls too) was Pompeii.  Pompeii with an estimated population of twenty-thousand was destroyed by volcanic fumes and pumice/ash in 79AD.  What is truly amazing about these ruins was how well it was “preserved”; from the tiled (original) houses, walls with colorful frescos, streets, sidewalks, mosaics and of course the plaster casts of the people it all captured your imagination…I could feel the hustle and bustle of this city and swear I could hear the conversations of ghosts from long ago.  We have toured many ancient ruins and nothing has captured our imagination like Pompeii (except perhaps Egypt).  The fact that we were able to walk around the this city go into their houses some with running water and sewer, visit shops, like bakeries, brothels, pharmacies and schools preserved pretty close to “as they were” nearly 2000 years ago was beyond amazing it was mesmerizing.  We spent nearly six hours in the city and I could have used another six easily (but hunger and the kid’s eventual boredom won out).   Without a doubt, if you ever have the opportunity to tour the ruins of Pompeii – don’t pass it up.

Napoli:



Looks like he died happy

Naples is one of the oldest continuous inhabited cities in the world and the birth place of pizza!  Not only that but it was the most bombed city in Italy.  We attacked the city as normal, hiking everywhere and seeing as much as possible.  What we didn’t realize is the city center happens to be one of the largest in Europe and we found that out the hard way, our poor feet were screaming at us by day’s end.  We managed to take in two castles, royal palace/church of San Francesco (many other churches and famous shopping areas) and an underground tour of the water cistern/bomb shelter of WWII.  Had traditional fire oven baked Margarita pizza and of course gelato!  Not too bad for day one.

Ice Fishing



Gena in our mini-blizard

We had another opportunity to visit Marina and Gena’s country cottage and as usual it was a great time with friends.  On this trip, I had the adventure of ice fishing for the first time.  Now I have to say, I wasn’t too keen on the idea…the Desna river is large similar to the Columbia and it’s been above freezing for the last week with lots of sunshine.  However, I was told I could stand on the “shore” and enjoy the sunshine.  Well, what they didn’t tell me is I had to cross an alcove and make my way to where the main river flows and that the river bank was actually underwater…great.  Trust me; my ears were quite a tuned to any noises that ice was making.  After we got out to “base camp” where I would be standing (with Gena’s brother Sasha) we had some drink and snacks while Gena and a friend went and checked the lines.  It was beautiful, the sun was in and out and Sasha and I had some pleasant conversation in very broken Russian/English.  Not too long afterward a blizzard whipped up and the snow was coming down horizontal…always an adventure.

The next morning we went back out, and this time I took Ellie with me (I got a measurement on the ice and it was every bit of 4 inches…that means we were safe) Ellie was amazed and being able to walk on a river and found the whole adventure pretty cool…err I mean cold…freezing cold.  The poor girl ended up getting chilled so I brought her back to shore and we had a relaxing walk back to the cottage.