Monday, January 21, 2008

Roman Holiday

So we just got back from a week long getaway in Rome with Sam's family. His parents, his brother, sister-in-law, and their two daughters, and his sister and her husband. All told, it was a party of eleven. Poor Sam was commuting from Rome to Viterbo most of the week, but we still made the most of it. I'll let him fill you on visit in his next post. For now, here are a few pictures/highlights:


The entire Savage clan out to lunch. (From left to right: Steve, Lois, Sam, Will, Sean, Meredith, Baby Sally, and Jess. Eli and Emily are hiding away in the back watching a video.)

Mimi Lo and Eli reading together.

Sally is 10 months old and looks like the perfect cupi doll.

Eli followed Emily around like a puppy all week. She took it in stride and they ended up being great playmates.




Sam lead us all on a fantastic tour of the Forum.


We stole away a few moments alone time here and there. This is Sam and Eli splashing around at a water spout in Campo di Fiori, close to where we stayed.

No trip to Rome is complete without a visit to the Trevi Fountain.


We had hopes of being blessed by the Pope on Sunday, but the kiddies were restless so we had to move on before he made an appearance. The crowd in front of St. Peter's was a spectacle in itself.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy New Year!

Hope you had great holiday celebrations filled with friends and family. We were definitely missing everyone this holiday season, but in lieu of loved ones, save each other of course, we ventured off to Germany and Switzerland for some holiday cheer. A family friend (Luca's mom for those of you who know her) was kind enough to lend us her house in Ehingen so we had our Christmas there. We did plenty of day-tripping and dropped in on Sam's friend Luca in Zurich on our way to and fro. The photo essay:

Ok, so this one was actually taken before the trip, but I thought it was so cute I couldn't resist.

Here are Sam and Eli in Lugano, Switzerland. It was our first stop. We only stayed for a night, but it was a great night. The city was beautifully decked out for xmas. We came upon a Christmas pagent in the main piazza of the town. It was really fun because after the kids completed their nativity scene, the pagent goers were led to another piazza by light of a star (see below). Carollers (sp?) took over from there and so on. Luca later told us that it's a German tradition to do pagents this way. I thought it was wonderful.

Just a little taste of Switzerland as we drove through...

We stopped in on Luca in Zurich. Luca was visiting his brother's family for the holidays. Zurich was very wealthy, as expected, but very quaint and charming too. Luca took us on a culinary tour of sorts which was a welcome break from Italian food.


We arrived in Ehingen late that night. The next day was Xmas Eve. Ehingen is a cute little town. On Xmas Eve it had a market going and, despite the cold, a band filling the marktplatz with music all morning. We just walked around and took it all in. Note Eli in his snow suit ala Christmas Story... "Can't put my arms down"... it was COLD.





Xmas morning we opened presents...

Boxing Day (still a holiday in Germany, so not much was open) we headed to Munich. Munich was beautiful. We toured the old royal palace and took in some other sights around town. We had a great meal and, of course, we stopped in at the Haufbrau House for a beer before day's end.






The next few days were local jaunts to Ulm, Tubingen, and some smaller hamlets around southern Germany. Ulm was especially interesting. The town is a wonderfully harmonious mix of old and new. This is the modern stadthaus (a Richard Meier design) next to the medieval munsterkirsch. The town is full of interesting juxtapositions like this one.




Tubingen is a beautiful college town. We had a fantastic meal here at a restaurant that specializes in a sort of ravioli typical of southern Germany - very different from the Italian variety - and delicious!


Finally it snowed enough for Eli to take notice of the white stuff on the ground. He discovered snow in one of the smaller hamlets we visited along the Danube. Here he is in front of one of the monasteries we visited.




We finished up the trip by spending New Years Eve in Zurich with Luca and his family. His brother generously extended us an invite to his NYE bash. It was a great party and a good time was had by all, especially Eli who probably literally had the time of his life with all the other kids at the party. Happy New Year everyone!