European Vacation

Best. Vacation. Ever.
Or atleast this year. We started off our trip in Barcelona (Sagria Familia, Gaudi Park, Port Olympic - all on the highly recommened Double Decker Bus Tour!) then boarded the beautiful Gem. We grew to realize the boat design was pretty obnoxious, but the inside was great (and by inside I mean rooms and restuarants, not the carpet).

First stop was in Valetta, Malta. The most interesting thing there was that was where Troy was filmed, although St. John's was pretty cool. We then continued on to Capri (photos in previous post), the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

Next up was a run through Rome. I mean it when I say we ran. That place is huge and of course, all of the places we wanted to see were on opposite sides of the city - St. Peter's/Vatican, the Colluseum, and Trevi Fountain. We left the city with a sheen of sweat. Thank goodness we came in a season when it wasn't too hot! Rome was incredible with all of the history. We will definitely be planning another trip there soon.

Then there was Florence where we waited in line for an hour to see David and it was well worth it. Then climbed to Michelango's Park where we got the best views of the city and the countryside. Seriously some of the most amazing views. Everything almost looked fake it was so beautiful. Plus, it was awesome since Ashley studied abroard there so she mapped out the entire day.

And finally we headed over to the French Riviera where we visited Monte Carlo, Monaco, and Villafranche. Another beautiful day of wondering around and enjoying the sites. Maybe one day we will have enough money to drive our Bentley to the Monte Carlo Casino and play the $100 slots. Or not.

We would definitely recommend visiting all of these places and are hoping to visit most of them again. It was a bummer when the vacation ended, but luckily we got to come home just in time for the Cubs to start the playoffs. GO CUBS!

CA-pree

Thinking about retiring here in a few years. More Europe photos to come. This is just the place I am missing the most right now.

CakeBeard the Pirate

All ye who enter, surrender your sweets and your treasures. Look on in despair at the plunderer of cakes and the destroyer of frostings.
- Mya Verticchio's Journal 8/31/2008

I happened to see Mya's journal laying open on her workdesk the day after her 1st birthday party, and that's what she wrote. I'm not surprised that such a sharp little girl has already taught herself to read and write, but the pirate dialect she writes in was pretty impressive. I also admire her ability to concisely describe how completely she dominated her personal birthday cake. And she even managed to strike a nice pose for the cake papparazzi.

We had an excellent Labor Day weekend with Mya and all of her friends and family. The weather was great, Tony and Kristy threw a raging party with plenty of beer and cake, and the Ohio River fireworks were spectacular. The only negatives of the weekend were the terrible Illini defense against Mizzou and the disturbing sight of two rather portly Ohioans getting a little too romantic during the fireworks show. But when you've got CakeBeard the Pirate to keep you entertained, it's hard to get upset about anything.

Oh Chicago, How I Love Thee

Two weekends ago we got to enjoy our city a little bit with some out-of-towners. Nicole had a friend in from California so we decided to show off Chicago in a way we hadn't ever seen it before - by taking the Architectural Tour. I was so surprised when I got the pamphlet as we boarded the boat and saw the photo that you can see posted here. I wondered how I had never seen this building before and was excited to see it that day.

Ryan later politely told me that that was just a picture, the building hadn't been built yet. Woops! Looks like I still have a lot to learn about Chicago. The tour was awesome even though I didn't get to see everything pictured in the pamphlet.

Later we joined Ryan's family, including Margaret and Rob from England, at Ravinia. How have we missed out on this for the past 5 years? A $15 ticket to see a concert (we saw Tony Bennett) where you bring a picnic and all you can drink? We will definitely be training it up there again. Although I don't think we will ever be having our picnic catered with waiters and candelabra as some North Shore folks did.