Pompeii and Pizza

I chose this cruise for the stop in Pompeii, the ancient Roman city located near Naples.  I read about this city as a child - how the people froze in place when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.  The city remained basically untouched until the late 1700s.

The kids and I followed Jack, Annie and their tree house back in time to Pompeii in the weeks preceding our trip.  The morning we ported in Naples, Emily says, "I don't know how to say this but um I would rather go to kid's club."  Dave and I ventured off the boat on our own.

The Norwegian "excursions" cost over a hundred dollars each, so we decided to figure it out on our own.  We found a bus just off the port for 12 euro each. We just prayed it would actually get us there.

Of course we had to have pizza since it originated in Naples.  We ate two pies in the five hours we were off the boat.  

Why We  Love Cruises 3: Kids Club.  Emily and Owen loved Kid's Club this vacation.   Counselors organized arts and crafts, games, dress-up, and activities.  The boat included a four room kids center with a jungle gym where the activities took place.  Our kids preferred playing with other kids to site seeing with us - can you imagine?  So Dave and I saw Italy, France, and Spain without constant requests for food or "Emily is hitting me."  Then, we spent the afternoons with them at the pool and arcade and focused on "kid's things."

Bye-Bye Barcelona

Sunday morning we packed up, checked out, and headed to Museu Picasso.  This museum houses the best collection of his early works in the world.  The collection resides in several different Gothic palaces - making the  museum itself part of the art.  Again, we avoided the two-hour wait by purchasing advance tickets.  In one room, Emily quickly noticed the series paintings that included a little baby pigeon.  "Mommy each of these paintings are the same, but also a little different and the pigeon reminds me of me."

I promised treats, but the cafes were closed.  We headed to the port with growling stomachs and I of course worried the boat would not have food until late.  Obviously, I had never been on a cruise.

Within an hour, we sat on a sunny deck overlooking the city as we ate hamburgers, pizza, cookies, and pina coladas.  Let the vacation begin.

Why We Love Cruises 1:  Food.  We frequently struggled at meal time out last few trips.  Dave and I can barely read the menus and most restaurants we tried in Holland, France, or Germany did not serve chicken nuggets or mac and cheese.  In Spain, we stopped at McDonald's - a place we avoided at home - after our wonderful tapas meal to get Owen chicken nuggets.  The cruise provided kid-friendly food at every meal.  We found melon, hot dogs, pizza, and apple juice.  (Yes, my kids have very limited pallets.)  Plus, for seven days, we did not have to do dishes, plan meals, or grocery shop.

We spent Monday cruising down the Med.  While I wish I brought a fleece for breakfast, by the afternoon we could sit by the pool.  We shot ski ball at the arcade, practiced drawing Picasso on the deck, and crushed the big slide.

Why We Love Cruises 2: Activities.  We did not have to search for a play-ground or stay at the pool to keep out kids entertained.  In addition to the arcade, bowling ally, climbing wall and casino, we could participate in arts and crafts, three-point and ping-pong contests, and karaoke.

The kids ended the day at a pirates party while Dave and I enjoyed a dinner.

Mediterranean Vacation

We left last Friday for two nights in Barcelona followed by a seven night cruise.   We hoped the cruise would meet our "vacation" needs - pools, convenience, relaxed setting - and allow us to experience aspects of Europe.  We could see Pompeii, Naples, and Rome without staying in the chaos of southern Italy.

The kids couldn't wait.  Every night the last eight months they insisted, "Tell us about the boat."  "There will be slides, all the ice cream you can eat, hot dogs, kids club..."

We left our house at 11:00 and arrived, via Frankfurt airport, at our hotel in Barcelona by 4:30.  Located in the Catalunya region, Barcelona is considered Spain's second city.  We hopped on the clean and easy metro system to the Eixample district to eat dinner and passed Casa Mila  by Gaudi, a Catalan famous for his Modernista architecture.  Dave and I loved the tapas and the sangria - though we stopped by Micky D's for nuggets for Owen.

Saturday morning we visited Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's most famous and still unfinished church.  He began the project in 1883 and even today it is not expected to be completed for another 30 years. As we walked around the line to enter, passing hundreds of people, I clutched my advance tickets a little tighter.  We went straight to the Passion facade elevator to take us 215 feet up to view the city and the Church's on going construction.

 

Owen could not ride the elevator so we snuck granola bars and hid from guards while Emily and Dave went up.

I found the Church breathtaking and so unlike any cathedral we visited.

Next, we stopped at a playground - Dave had to get his energy out.

I wanted to hit Rick Steve's top places - his three triangle "don't miss" sites.  He provided a walking tour for the next site, the Ramblas, Barcelona's main drag.  Since I forgot to pack our I-product chargers, we hit the Apple store as well.  (We also searched for socks for Owen and pajama's for Emily - so much for organized packing.)  We started in Placa de Catalunya, the main square with a beautiful fountain and lots of pigeons.

We did a "short sweet walk" for a three-stop dessert.  We ate turron at Casa Colomina.  The churros place was closed for siesta, but we loved the chocolate at Fargas, a shop founded in 1827.

We wondered through Barri Gotic, the Gothic Quarter an found a cool store that made belts and bags out of old Barcelona banners.  Of course, I had to get a belt.

At the bottom of the Rambles, we bowed to our favorite mime, rode the lion, and rested on the pier.

Good Bye

We ventured to Sachsenhausen today to say good-bye to our friends here in Frankfurt.  They wanted to eat lunch at their favorite German restaurant and enjoy their last glasses of genuine apfelwein.  Sachsenhausen, a neighborhood in Frankfurt located "across the river," houses taverns, restaurants, and museum row - and housed them for the past year.  I was off today due to Ascension Day, one of the four German holidays in May, so a lunch time date worked out perfect.  (We discovered it's also Father's Day in Germany.)

Good-byes feel especially sharp here.  I think sharing both the experience of being foreign and the familiarity of similar high school/college experiences bonded us quickly.  I am sure Susan and Adam would have folded easily into both our high school and our college groups - a rare find.  And another adjustment to our life in a new country.

Containers

I escaped to Yoko Ono's Half-Wind exhibit today at the Schirn Art Museum.   This 60 year retrospective deserves multiple visits, but it closes this weekend.   John Lennon and the Bed-In consumed only a fraction of her vast life.   The diversity of the performance art, film, and song struck me for the ideas they presented.  (Cheryl, it reminded me of Jason's Dad's work.)  I just loved it.

One poem/display reminded me of conversations Dave and I have been having with the kids.

you are water
I'm water
we're all water in different containers
that's why it's so easy to meet
someday we'll evaporate together
but even after the water's gone
we'll probably point out to the containers
and say, "that's me there, that one."
we're container minders

Yesterday, Emily explained that the other girls in her class wear nail polish and glitter makeup. Why can't she?  "I want to be beautiful too."  Of course, this comment spurned a lengthy discussion on beauty.  (Is Naomi Wolf's "The Beauty Myth" good bedtime reading?)  I am against the idea of makeup and fingernail polish until she is...older (maybe 21).  As a compromise, I agreed to paint toenails - which for the most part are covered.  Of course, Owen wanted in on the action.  Red on one foot and orange on the other.  Emily grew very concerned "that looks like girls" she said as she pointed to his toes.  So began another discussion....

We do not use gender as an adjective in this house.   We de-emphasize the differences our culture creates for girls and boys.  I avoid teaching my children the “rules.”  "Girls wear barrettes and dresses.  They focus on being pretty, winning a husband, and creating a home.  Boys wear pants.  They are rough and active and strive to be the primary bread winner in their homes.”   This statement sounds extreme.   Yet, gender inequality starts when we emphasize that girls and boys come from different cultures.  A concept carried out as we are raising kids and teaching them the “rules.”

we're container minders.  The kids police each other.  They learn the rules and then focus on how each person implements them.  A kid told Emily her favorite shoes looked like boys shoes  (Boy is not an adjective.  Blue, cotton, white-striped - those words actually describe a noun.)  How do I get the kids to focus on the water instead?

Learning Baseball

Emily actually loves baseball.  I say actually because she spent the soccer season picking flowers. (Yes, just like Aunt Jenny.)  She left her first baseball practice telling everyone she hit a home run.  She wears her Rockies baseball hat to school everyday and eagerly anticipates her bi-weekly practices.  When Dave went back to the States two weeks ago, I dreaded practice.  The coaches and parents look like professionals, and I still don't understand what a short stop does.  I feared being asked to do... anything.  Dave assured me I would just have to watch.  After Emily struggled at bat, Coach Brown yelled, "Mom, work with her."  Oh sure.  And what is a bat again?

Rain prevented her from playing last week.  So Dave arrived for her real first game.