Happy birthday to us!

First up, on November 6, Mr S who was turning one full decade old!

                                     having some presents with brekkie

His pizza and movie party

plus cake by his loving Nana

A geometry set made from peanut-free chocolate!

His main present from us came towards the end of the day, after a
 'light' look at responsibility and how much he has matured

Hard to see but father and son programming the very new (to us) wifi-enabled iPod. Exciting, daunting and yes, has already created a few rows... 

November 7 - the lull day

 A quick moment for Nana to open her
glass gifts that the children had selected in Morano

November 8 - a mighty fine Friday for the lady of the house

Handmade ravioli stuffed with squash and lemon!! (dessert was molten chocolate cakes)

Pottery from my two poppets and our wonderful potter

Running gear from the man who can outpace me with his shoelaces tied together

Wool socks that would make my Mum proud; passion fruit chocolates,
and my very own Murano paperweight from Seb

and then some wonderful things from my dear sis -
no wonder her luggage was so heavy!

Sebastian's perspective on Italy

Off gadding about - within our gad about

No trip to Venice would be complete without a visit to Murano by vaporetto.

where you eat at a trattoria that is a 100 year old, island cooperative initiative, that boasts a lovely terrace 

The colours are just exquisite

the brickwork on the outside and the mosaic floor on the inside make this church a truly delightful structure

It's art biennale there too of course

and the glass - they even make masks

and Christmas items in October (probably there in June...)

Off gadding about (part 2)

Venice - there is no other. We all fell in love with it and dream of a return. It was misty and damp but thankfully not smelly or flooded. We saw almost no museums, just Venice itself. A treat made even more fun by imagining the people and places of Cornelia Funke's mighty fine The Thief Lord.

fresh off the boat

It's a city of romance

Everywhere you look is interesting

typical view low down on the water

perfecting her gondolier pose

captivated by the gondoliers

She is almost as tall as the campanile

and he can fly with the pigeons of St Mark's square

The children saw a number of world-famous buildings on this 'tour'

It was the art biennale too!

a bench from bicycle parts

We went up St Mark's campanile just before sunset and were rewarded/punished by its bells just 6' above our heads.

City of romance (part 2)

City of romance (part 3)

how my love spent much of the trip (but he still hasn't downloaded since August)

He told me that he would treat me to this hotel next time

Taryn had a blast too

She even went out alone and didn't get lost

Off gadding about

Ooops. Sorry. It's been a while. But there have been places to be and people to see and birthdays to fete and so on....

Let's start with our wonderful trip to northern Italy. First stop was Turin, where the highlights were:

• visiting with our lovely friends and meeting their new son, Michael
• seeing the museum that Elena co-created, full of families
• drinking the thickest, richest hot chocolate in the world (white/dark/milk/hazelnut - with whipped cream or without)
• going for a hike in the foothills of the alps
• picking out delicious food at the gourmet grocery store EATaly (get it...)
• spending a rainy afternoon entranced by the national museum of cinema
• finding a tiny shop that I discovered 3 years ago in the arcades
• eating delicious pizza