Italy, where we will spend most of our time!

Day5:

Today we make it to Italy!  But before we do we have a breakfast coffe stop in Rakovica, a cute little mill town in Croatia.  We were supposed to have dinner there last night but we got halfway there and hit a dead stop traffic jam, that didn't move for the 30 min we sat there, so we turned around and had pizza.  Rakovica is definitely worth a stop, a picturesque little town full of waterfalls.  We stopped and had a much needed cup of coffee right over one.

We then hit the road for real, and drove straight through Slovenia (which had a border stop) and into Italy (which did not).  We stopped at the first town in Italy for a late (again) lunch and a car break.  

The port town of Trieste was bigger than I thought it would be, built up the hill and down to the sea, we didn't get to explore too much, but maybe next time...

We needed to keep moving, so back on the road to Venice.  This section of the trip had the most traffic, we moved the whole time, just sometimes slowly.  One lane was all trucks, so I had fun looking at the plates and trying to guess where they were from.  

You may wonder what in the world the kids do with all this time in the car.  Well, Bronwyn takes a lot of naps, but then again she needs them because she has 2 speeds, sleeping or 100 mph.  Lillian and Oliver have done a lot of listening to music with headphones, do not too different from when I was younger in road trips.  They have also played with their Nintendo, jammed with the family to good music, been forced to look out the window and observe, and watched a movie on the iPad.  All in they are awesome at this whole road trip thing, but there was never a doubt...

We drove to the parking lot in Venice, we decided to park at Tronchetto, not the closest, but the one we were sure we would have no problem parking the van at.  Now the tricky part, because while I dont bring a lot of luggage into every place we stay, I do bring the pack and play, because B has never slept out of a crib, and I didn't want to start now.  So we have to get 3 kids, 2 bags, and a pack and play to our airbnb.  We were told to take the water bus line 2, but we could only take line 1 from where we parked, so looking at the stops it looked like it would work.  Whoops, it did but we were on the wrong side of the canal, so Greg had to carry the pack and play (which we were pushing in the stroller) over the realto bridge, not easy to do, especially at 6 with all the tourists about!  But we did it and found our apartment, now the trick will be if I can get it all back to the car by myself!

Did I mention that after we finally made  it to our apartment I forgot our passports in the car!  So I had to turn around and go to get them!  (You need your passports to pay a tourist tax). I decided so walk, so I ended up meeting Greg and the kids at a restaurant because it took me an hour to walk to get them and walk back.  Ah well, you live and you learn.

We had dinner right along the grand canal, lovely hand made pasta and fish and local wine.  What could be better than this!

Stay posted for our day in Venice...

And the Adventure continues in Croatia

Day 3:

We left the city of Belgrade behind and drove into Croatia.  As soon as we crossed the border my phone started working again!  Yay, I was a little worried that roaming wasn't going to work...

We made a lunch stop in Zagreb, the capitol of Croatia.  A very understated city, with a lot to offer.  It was easy to drive in and find parking, and easy to walk around and find the sights.  We were a little late for lunch, and so just had hot dogs, but they hit the spot just right.  We walked around the center, saw some beautiful sights and stretched our legs.

It was another hot day and the kids were worn out, that is the perfect time to stick them in the car... nap time!

Next we headed to the plivice lakes area, where (due to my superior navigation skills) we took a scenic route and ended up stopping at a lost castle.  Pretty good way deal if you are going to drive a bit extra.  It also helps it was down the kind of road that Greg likes to drive down.  

We made it to our destination just in time to get settled into our excellent tiny house for the next two nights when a storm rolled in just as we were walking down the road to dinner.  We managed to get a table just as the electricity went out, so we settled for whatever they could cook us on the BBQ, we ended up with a mixed meat platter with grilled veg.  It was lovely and an experience the kids won't forget!

Day 4:

We woke up, had a good breakfast, and hit the road to go to the plivice lakes.  There were a ton of people around, but that didn't matter, the lakes were awesome.  The waterfalls were magical.  Truely if there are fairies in the world they would live here.  We were only going to go the short route that would take about 2 hours... ahh best laid plans, ill marked paths, the desire to see one more around the bend, and paths closed for renovation meant we walked for 4 1/2 hours.  Thankfully B was in the backpack, and the other two were awesome.  We must have walked for 6-7 miles by the time we got back to the car, but it was totally worth it.

All in all I would totally recommend Croatia to anyone who is interested.  It has a lot to offer, and we didn't even get to the coast!  

Tomorrow we drive to Italy!

(Backup) Serbia? Who goes to Serbia!?!

Well, the short answer, not too many people which made it a great time for us!  

Day 2:

We went to visit Golubac fortress.  Unfortunately we couldn't go in the castle as it was under construction, but if you are ever in this area, it is a really cool castle so stop in!  It is built right along the Danube river, and its history is long.  There has been evidence of people living here for (almost) as long as time.  

 

  

We hit the road again to go into Belgrade where we spent night two.  Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, and a vibrant city full of history and character.  We are a late lunch after we eventually found our hotel, and greg parked the car in a garage about 1 km away.  Not too bad, but not easy to haul the bags around.

In Belgrade we went to see Kalemegdan Fortress, which is an old citadel.  It is a very large Fortress surrounded by a big park that has a lot going on.  While we were there a band was settling up for a rock concert, and there was some sort of basketball expo going on as well.  We walked around, went up an old bell tower to get a nice view, and found an old Roman well to explore.  We didn't actually find the castle area, the park is really big and at that point we were all hot and needed to cool down, so we found some water and a dinosaur park in the shade.  The kids had a great time checking out the dinos, and we enjoyed a break.  

 

 

We left the Fortress area and got a taxi to take us up the hill to Saint Sava Temple.  This is the Balkans biggest (and the worlds second biggest) Orthodox Church.  It is inspired by Hagia Sophia, so I really wanted to see it.  Okay here is the other secret to Serbia, it is under construction!  The church is not finished, the outside looks great, the inside is a construction sight, the crypt is finished and open, and they have set up a little chapel for pilgrims.  I think if you come back here in a few years things will be finished and it will be great.  It is great right now, just under construction!

 

 

We walked back to our hotel, which (I forgot to mention) is in a walking section of town,  they have recently closed down some of these streets and made them into a pedestrian area which makes it a really nice area to stay.  There were lots of great restaurants and cafes and bars to choose from, and lots of shopping if that interests you.  

Next stop Croatia!

Here we go on an adventure!

Yesterday we started our road trip!  We drove to Golubac, Serbia for our first stop.  It was one of our longest car days that we will have, and the kids did amazingly well.

We drove for just under 500 km, and it took us 6 hours.

We drove to the border without stopping, then stopped in Drobeta-Turnu Severin where we saw some ruins of an ancient Roman Bridge.  It was a quick stop, as it turns out they are building a visitors center around it, so there was a lot of construction going on.  But it was good to stretch our legs.  We had lunch down the road before the border crossing, anticipating that the crossing might take a little time.  We are along the river, looking out at Serbia, the country we were about to enter.  The border runs right through the river Danube.  

 

   

The border crossing was very quick!  No lines at all.  It is right over a hydro damn, with 2 locks, one on the Romanian side and one on the Serbian side.  

 

 

And then we were in Serbia.  

When you enter Serbia here you are in the Djerdap National Park.  We should have turned left to stop and see some other ruins, but I forgot!  So we just went right and followed the river.  The river is very wide!  

A highlight was seeing the rock sculpture of Decebalus, which is on the Romanian side of the river so I wasn't sure if we would see it or not, but we did!  

 

One side is Romania and one side is Serbia!

 

We made it to our hotel spot, more of a B&B, in the forest just past Golubac Fortress, where we will go today.  It is a cool little spot, with hammocks and a frog pond (Oliver is determined to catch a frog).  Last night we had pizza along the river in the next town up, where we finally remembered to get local currency!  We walked along the river, let the kids play in a park, and had ice cream for dessert.  All in it was a great way for our road trip to start!

  

Stay tuned for more!

First day of summer

So today marked the official first day of summer for us.  It was a beautiful day here and the kids spent most of it outside, and part of it helping me pack up the car.  

Yesterday was the last day of school for the kiddos, I no longer have a first and third grader, I  or have a second and fourth grader!  How did that happen so fast?  

They had a pretty great last (half) day of school, ending on the green in the middle of the school where the classes took turns singing, all wrapped up with a rendition of 'we don't need no education' and 'schools out for summer'. All in all it was an awesome way to wrap up the year, I must say I was jealous, I don't remember ending a school year in such a cool way!  

There were lots of tears everywhere though.  Being at an international school where most of the population is mobile the end of the year tends to bring moves, so big tears.  Lillian was very sad she won't see her teacher again, as she is moving on to teach in Africa next year.  Oliver was extremely distraught because he wouldn't get to go to school anymore.  (Seriously!!!  Who's kid is he!?!)

A few pictures of the last day, and the kids with their teachers.

 

    

So now it is evening here in Bucharest and the car is almost all packed for tomorrow's road trip!  

Looking forward to it, but honestly I am a bit scared too!  It will all be fine though, I have faith...

A night out in Bucharest

So Greg and I have been out here a few times, but not a night out in the town.  

Last night we did it, we went out and stayed out and had a great time!  The nightlife in Bucharest has a lot to offer, and we just saw a small part of it last night, but it was awesome!

We started our night off with a concert in the national arena. This is a huge venue and they had thousands of people there.  The energy was great, the people great, and the music great, what more could you ask for.  We saw LP, who was great, followed by Kings of Leon (the main act).  Do you see a theme here...  great!  Doors opened at 5:30, but we got there at 7:30, and that was perfect timing on our part (all totally planned of course!).  We stopped for dinner before the show though.  

     

After the concert we decided to try our luck with the metro to get down town, no such luck there though so we ordered the reliable uber instead.  A quick drive toook is to Old Town, where we walked around for a few minutes but quickly settled in a bar called The Drunked Lords.  Great name for a great bar.  It is along a little pedestrian alley, and the bar filled up quick so the people spilled out into the street.  It was an awesome atmosphere and people were dancing in the street.  We enjoyed some great company, great music and great drinks all in a very unique little bar.  All in all it was a great night out in Bucharest and I can't wait for our next one!

Blogging from the iPad

So blogging from my phone was a success, now I am testing from the iPad. This last week was the kids last full week of school, they officially have 2.5 days of fun filled days left at school.  They have mixed feelings about this, as they really love school and their teachers here, but they are also really looking forward to summer.   This week Oliver had a great week, with a lot going on.  On Tuesday he had his grade 1 concert, where he did great.  He can be really goofy when he is performing, he has a lot of character!  On Wednesday morning he had a story performance, which was awesome, he told his story really well, a lot of inflection ions and actions.  Then on Thursday he went on a field trip, and on Friday the whole school had water day, where the student council set up slip and slides and the kids got to play!   This is our last weekend in Bucharest before our summer road trip begins,mans we are taking it easy, at least during the days!  Tonight Greg and I are going to a kings of Leon concert, followed by a little trip into old town Bucharest for a taste of the night life here.  We really don't get out too much together, so we are looking forward to this!  And tomorrow is Father's Day so it is all about Daddy!  I think it will be a quiet day at home though.   So hopefully this works like the post from my phone!  

Testing blogging from my phone

 

The kids had crazy day at school today.  I personally think every day is crazy day but...  today was extra crazy around here I guess!  

Plus I am testing out if I can even blog from my phone!  Here's hoping this works!