Our Terrifying Visit to the Modern Art Museum

Today, on our first full day in Madrid, we spent the morning at Spain’s lavish Royal Palace. After lunch and a stop at the playground we went to the Reina Sophia Museum. Madrid’s modern art museum, focusing on the years 1900-1965ish. Artist heavy-weights include Picasso, Dali, and Miro, plus a handful of post-impressionists. Because of the time and place the art in the collection was created many pieces focus on the changes the 20^th century brought to the world, the struggles of Europe and the first and second World Wars. By far the most famous piece is the hauntingly beautiful painting "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso. It depicts the carnage of the people in the town of Guernica after Franco allowed Hitler to use the town to test new bombs. It is moving, and it opened the eyes of a generation to the realities of modern warfare.

Our kids are generally good in museums. They kind of enjoy looking at the various art, and we try to engage them in conversations about various paintings. This visit did not go as planned. In the very first room, Sebastian excited about a painting that looked like a mermaid, walked up to it to point something out to me and touched it. Breaking the cardinal rule of museums everywhere. Gardner, I and the guard all loudly, and in unison said “NO”. My sweet, sensitive son was so embarrassed by his overly-enthusiastic response that his little eyes welled-up as he tried in vain to hold back tears. I hugged him and told him it was ok, and tried to comfort him. His little lip was still a bit shaky as we entered room two.

The curator of the museum has done something unique and interesting. They have paired short video clips made during the time the paintings were created, near the art. So in the second room, the paintings were mostly circa 1915-1920. Off to the side there is a little black and white picture showing “Un Chien Andalou” (co-directed by Salvador Dali). Gardner leads us in, a perfect distraction to move past a moment of embarrassment, or so he thought. The movie starts. It’s a man, getting ready to shave. He is in his undershirt, running the water, sharpening the old-fashioned razor. Everything is great. And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere there is a close-up of a women’s eye and the man is cutting through her eyeball with the blade. Now this is 1915’s graphics, so not super-realistic, but of course our hands fly-up over the kids eyes, and we rush them out of the area. Everett was pretty unphazed, but poor Sebastian was so affected. He talked about it the whole rest of the visit. Of course we feel terrible and so guilty, although there was no way to know the image would be violent. Clearly the intention was shock-value. He rebounded and we had a long conversation about movies not being real, and how sometimes art is intended to surprise people and to make them feel a particular way. Then we came “home” and made a dream-catcher for over his bed tonight. Hopefully my little man hasn’t been scarred for life. We are going to the Prado tomorrow, and Sebastian made us promise that there won’t be any movies there.

Now we are headed out for dinner. Hopefully some paella and a yummy dessert will wash away any bad dreams. You can’t protect your kids from everything, in the world as hard as you might try, but I feel bad about this one. Not winning any parenting awards tonight.

Update: Poor Sebastian. It’s midnight and he is still awake. He says he is going to lay awake in bed all night. :( 

The First Week in Spain

Wow, we are already over a week into the trip and the time has flown by. Sorry, I am already behind on my posts, Traveling can be so exhausting, by the time we get back in the evening it’s usually late and I have no energy left for typing a thoughtful post. But I figured I better catch-up or I never would. This first week has been so full, so much; I already know that I can’t accurately describe the experience here. Maybe that’s why I have been avoiding writing about it, because I know I can’t do it all justice. So I’m not going to try. But I will give you a brief daily overview, and try to do better going forward.

Day 1- Ronda! An ancient fortified hill town. Awesome, huge bridge. Moorish and Roman roots. Magic- watching my children plays bull fight with their daddy in the first bull-fighting ring in all of Spain. It was so awesome…up until Sebastian and Everett ran smack into each other, giving Sebastian a goose egg on the head and Everett a huge black eye, which you might notice in the pictures.

Day 2- The long drive the Granada to see The Alhambra! AMAZING! GORGOUS!! Unfortunately our tickets into the palace (even though we reserved weeks ago) weren’t until 7pm. By that point the kids were tired, cranky and really “over” the whole “We are walking through 1,000 year of history”, and “Look at the original Moorish carvings” sentiments, and they whined basically the whole time. Highlight for the kids, the 12 lions fountain in the central courtyard. Highlight for me- feeling just like Jasmine walking around the upper balconies watching the sunset over Granada.

Day 3- Beach break day in old town Marbella. Paella, sangria, and splashing the in the ocean. Fun for everyone.

Day 4- Africa!! We took a day trip to Tangiers, Morocco!! We drove about an hour to the “fast ferry” for a 30 minute ferry ride and a two-hour wait in passport control. Then we met our private guide and driver. They took us all over the city, and I am so glad we had them and didn’t just try to walk it on our own. We visited the Kasbah, the ancient part of the city, feels very third-world. Drove around the large modern homes in the San Francisco-like hills, feels very first-world. Ate lunch at delicious lunch at a local place. I had a roasted chicken and veggies dish that had been cooked a long time in a clay pot, Gardner had a yummy braised lamb and date dish. The kids had french fries. The highlight of the day was the amazing, camel ride on the beach which we all LOVED; Sebastian wanted to go a second time. We ended the day with a shopping trip through the Medina, were we bought a few small souvenirs. Ferry ride back to Spain. It was a great day. The kind that makes you exhausted in the best way, where you feel like you grew a little.

Day 5- Another beach day! Puerto Banus. Very resorty. Very expensive. Not as nice as Marbella. Soaking-up the sun was rejuvenating.

Day 6- A trip to England! Well, Gibraltar, which is technically England. Nice because all the signs are in English! We took the cable car to the top of the rock. Saw the amazing wild monkeys. There are so many! The babies were by far the cutest running all around and playing with each other. We decided to walk down, which was described as an easy 3-hour walk, including visiting all the sights on the mountain, a cave you can tour, old military tunnels blasted out during the revolutionary war times, etc. What was supposed to take 3 hours, took the short legs in our group 5. Sebastian was such a trooper matching us step for step, with minimal complaining. Everett determined to be carried, and I can hardly blame him. My legs hurt for 3 days after the walk. Back at sea level with very tired feet, I had the best fish and chips of my life for lunch!  We drove back home, rested a while and then went down to Marbella for the Semana-Santa Parade. The small town vibe was infectious. The Spaniards take Holy Week very seriously and the parades and rituals are done in the spirt of complete devotion. Afterwards, newly energized, as people seem to get here around 9pm when the sun goes down, we went on a little tapas crawl; finally figured out the right way to order for our group!  

Day 7 – Packing-up and heading out. We drove to Sevilla. The famous Cathedral, which houses Christopher Columbus’s tomb, was closed for Semana-Santa. We toured the Alcazar, which has been continually inhabited for hundreds of years and built in the Mudejar style. Designed by Moors for Christians to live in. It’s gorgeous, and still used as a royal residence by the King so it has really been well-maintained. After a tour of the palace and gardens we went to a flamenco show, which was perfect. It put the kids to sleep, which allowed Gardner and I to enjoy the show in restful peace. After a walking tapas dinner we went back to our room to catch some late night Semana-Santa parades from our balcony.

Day 8- We drove to Madrid, stopping in Cordova to tour the famous Mosque/Cathedral.

Now we are feeling settled here in Spain and so far we are enjoying Madrid. Our new apartment is nice, and in a great neighborhood. We are starting to learn some key phrases in Spanish, and we feel like we fitting in, sort-of. Ok, now I am officially caught-up, and very tired. Buenos Noches!  

And Away We Go!!

Since many people expressed interest, and I really enjoyed keeping a little written accounting of our last long trip, I have decided to reinstate my blog for this European adventure. What prompted this odyssey was a culmination of many factors. We were on the brink of moving across country, as of last week almost everything we own is sitting in storage pods, we were forced to move-out of our rental house earlier then we planned because the owner decided to sell, and maybe most importantly we just had the itch to get out there and see stuff. To live as a citizen of the world. This being the 4^th trip for both Gardner and I we are becoming increasingly comfortable navigating Europe, and absolutely love it there. Since planning time was short we decided to stick with the sort-of familiar and head to some old favorites as well as some places that are brand new to us.

So after what has felt like a complete whirlwind of sorting, selling and packing up our house, packing for and planning this trip, and serving as a bridesmaid in my oldest friend’s wedding, I still can’t 100% believe I am currently sitting 10,000 feet in the air above the Atlantic ocean, only a few hours from landing in Madrid, Spain! We won’t be stopping there; we have one more short connection after this that will take us onto Malaga, Spain, the Costa del Sol.

Sitting here peacefully watching my babies (all 3 of them) sleep, I am struck by how fortunate and excited we are to be embarking on this adventure. This trip will be very different from the last, the kids are older this time, we won’t be changing any diapers. (YAY) I am anticipating that the kids increased age will make things both easier and harder at the same time. What I want to focus on is really soaking up this time with my people, the three that I love most in the world, enjoying them and taking on this adventure together. So here we come Spain, France, Italy, and Istanbul! For the next 7 weeks you will be our temporary homes.

Also for the record…the kids have been amazing on the flights!! Walking through the airports with two little aspiring ninjas, makes a mom want to pull her hair out, I think I said “Come on Ev” 1 million times at least, BUT they have been rock stars on the planes! It’s amazing how a combination of ipads, Kindles, and Nintendo DS’s, plus a mandatory “bedtime  kept the kids calm and happy.

Update:

We are here, exhausted, but all checked-in to our temporary home. It’s a nice 2 bed-room apartment with killer sea views, and an unfortunate habit of the breaker tripping every time more than 3 things are plugged in. It’s already happened 4 times today. Massive annoyance. But all in all, we are good. New SIM cards purchased, fridge-stocked and laundry started, we are ready for a fun week exploring the Costa Del Sol. 

Nothing a little duct tape can't fix!

We must be nearing the very end of our trip because we are breaking down, and by that I mean our stuff is all breaking. So far both strollers are broken, but still usable. S's has a rip in the seat fabric and E's snack tray snapped off, both are strollers we purchased specifically for this vacation. My (expensive!) and oh so comfortable shoes, also purchased special for the trip, have broken. The strap is now being held together by duct tape. Our umbrella will no longer stay closed on it's own, and when the Velcro strap slips it pops open at unexpected times, and this morning the strap to my purse broke (which has also been repaired via duct tape). So our stuff might be broken down, but we are all still having a fabulous time!

Yesterday was the last night of our Germany blitz and I can't wait to come back and see more. We have spent the last few nights on the Rhine river, and have been exploring it as well as the adjacent Mosel river valley. It is gorgeous here! Looks like a fairy tale, which is only emphasized by the fact that every tiny town is shadowed by a huge medieval castle. In fact, we were lucky enough to spend 2 nights in a real castle turned hostel. (Also our first ever hostel experience, which was great. We had a private room and bathroom, sparse but very clean. For less than 50 euros per night we had a great room, an unbeilable view and breakfast included.) “Our castle” as S calls it, actual name Burg Stahleck was once the capital of Germany for a few years in the 1200's.

Our time in the river valley has gone so quickly and once again, we are wishing for more time to explore. We spent quite a bit of time in Trier, which has some excellent Roman ruins, including a huge still fully intacted Roman building. It has been in continous use since then, which has perserved it. What was once a thrown room for the emperor is now a protestant basilica. We also saw the Porta Negra gate house, which is a huge fully intact piece of the old Roman wall. In addition Trier is home to the oldest Christan church in Germany. It is also a very cute downtown area with great little cafes and shopping.

We enjoyed a great boat ride down the Rhine, looking at all the cute towns and castle spotting, then we toured Burg Eltz. We ended the evening in a new city (Cologne) and viewed their enormousus gothic cathedralal, so pretty. Cologne is not a pretty town. It was almost completely destroyed during WWII and the buildings were thrown-up quickly. However, the revitalization is underway in a major way, construction is everywhere, and you can tell, this is a town that has money. People dress very well. The taxis are BMW's with full leather seats and luxury upgrades, and store like Gucci and Prada line the streets.

This morning we woke-up and went to Cologne's chocolate museum. S loved it. They had chocolate history, South American chocolate artifacts and a full working display on how to make chocolate, complete with samples. After a quick lunch (gotta love Subway) we drove to Aachen, home to a very old church, one Charlemagne built, around 800. It has been added to over the years, but the original still stands and it's ceilings are filled with gorgeous tile mosaics. It also holds the crypt of Charlemagne, as well as some very important church relics (among them “the” swaddling clothes from Christ), if your into that sort of thing.

We then drove to Amsterdam, and of course there were plenty of issues getting checked-in to our apartment, but finally we are in and all very ready for bed. Had a lovely blitz of Germany, but now we are excited and ready to tackle Amsterdam!

Normandy, Paris and Packing

Phew. It has been a fun, long week. We left for an overnight trip to Normandy, on Monday. The first stop was along the coast to see some of the D-Day areas. We visited Omaha Beach and the American cemetery, as well as Arromanches which is cute little beach town that hosts Port Winston, the artificial harbor that was created by the British and American troops, which made D-Day success possible. We saw the huge German gun bunkers, and the Pointe Du Hoc a cliff side that was heavily bombarded by aerial attacks leaving huge 30ft plus craters along the cliff side. We couldn't have picked a more perfect day to go to the beach. Blue skies, and sunshine. It was so beautiful it was hard to imagine what happened there. Standing on Omaha beach and looking way, way up the huge cliff that had to be scaled, with German troops on top in huge artillery bunkers firing down at you, I'm not sure how the boys (most were 18-23 years olds) got the courage to jump off the boats. As we all know, many people on both sides of the fight and from many countries died on D-day. It was however also the day that the alliance gained a foothold in France and within a year Hitler was dead and the war was over. The day was sobering and heavy and unsurprisingly stirred-up lots of emotions. We are however, so glad we went. It was a great experience and nice to take a minute to remember and silently thank so many who paid such a price defending America and the world from oppression. After all of that we drove to Mont Saint Michel and spent the night on the island.

We awoke to drizzling rain, but got ready and headed-up the hill to the Abby. Had an excellent and very interesting self-guided of the Abby, complete with beautiful views of the bay. For lunch we did a Normandy fest. All of the regional specialties. We had mussels in cream, a super fluffy omelet, lamb feed from grass grown from salt water (gives the meat a unique salty flavor) and Camembert cheese. Oh, and hard apple cider to drink, yum! On the way back to Paris we stopped and saw the Bayou tapestry, which is fabulous.

Back in Paris on Wednesday we went to the Orangerie to see Monet's ultra famous Water Lillis paintings. They are stunning in person. The rooms were designed by Monet himself with huge skylights and the paintings really do seem to change as the sun shifts. Since in was overcast on our visit we really got to experience that as the sky shifted from sunny to dark and then sunny again. Then we walked to the Madeline church and then to the Louvre for an epically long visit trying to soak up as much as possible. Our kids have become little museum experts and do really well. E is generally happy as long as he can see and there are people to smile at him (and he is so cute, really who can resist?!) S knows that if he is good, and asks politely we will usually let him color on the ipad while we look. (We view art, he creates it).

Thursday was a frustrating day. We all slept in a little which was great, then headed out to drive to Giverny, (Monet's home and gardens). A drive that should have taken, about 45 minutes, took 3 hours. Of course neither Gardner or I had eaten (in true French style it was yet another holiday which means our coffee/breakfast place was closed), so we were starving. The place was beyond packed. Drove all over town looking for parking and finally had to create our own spot on the side of a parking lot. Giverny was nice. The gardens were very pretty, but had a natural look to them, in sharp contrast to the the perfectly manicured gardens you see in Paris. By this point it was almost 5, so we just drove back to Paris and went to Montmartre for dinner. Ate at a fantastic little bistro, and had a nice walk around the hill. After dinner as we were strolling down the steps along Sacre Coeur and S said “I really like Paris”. With the lights of Paris just starting to shimmer as the sunset and with the giant white dome above us, it was such a sweet moment, makes me smile to think about it.

As an end of the trip treat, we took the kids back to Disneyland. Bought a hopper pass for both parks this time. I have to say, their second park which is Hollywood themed is not very good. They have a few good “big kid” rides. As a family we only went on 3. S of course, LOVED the CARS rides, which was similar to the tea cups. We also sprang for the very overpriced lunch buffet at Remy's restaurant. Complete with a memorable visit from Remy the rat chef himself. S has watched Rattatouille several times since we have been here and was beyond excited. After lunch we went to the “real” Disneyland park and had a great afternoon and evening of rides and fun. Gardner and I did a fastpass/ babyswap combo to ride Thunder Mountian Railroad. It's longer and cooler than the one in California, we both loved it, just wish we could have rode together. S loved Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Pirates of the Caribbean. E loved the Circus Train and the It's a Small World. A great time was had by all.

Yesterday we packed, and packed, but we finally got it all together and today we loaded it into the (jam-packed) car. Currently we are making our way to Strasbourg, where we will spend the night. Can't wait to see all of those cute little haft timbered houses. The first major portion of our trip is over, and I feel great. I'm proud that we accomplished so much with our children along in tow and I know that we will feel the effects of all the amazing experiences we have had in France for a long while to come. So “au revoir Paris”. We can't wait to come back again to the beautiful City of Lights. But today we are looking ahead to the next 10 days and 3 countries. Get ready Germany, the Landon's are on their way.

Friday, Saturday, and Mother's Day!

Friday we spent in the Champagne region. We saw the Reims cathedral, looks similar to Notre Dame in Paris. It is the church where all of the kings of France have been crowned. Then we had a interesting tour of Moet & Chandon. The kids did great during the tour. It was only us and another American couple (on their honeymoon). The caves were very cool. Hand craved from chalk in the 1700's, Moet & Chandon claim to have been the birthplace of champagne. They are also the makers of Dom Perignon. Dinner was a drag. E was tired and cranky and the food was mediocre at best and way over-priced. But all in all a fantastic day.

Saturday we did chateau-fest. Started the day at Fontainebleau, which is hugely interesting from a historical perspective. After seeing the glorious Versailles my expectations were low that I would be impressed. In fact I was blown away. The chateau was home to many generous of french royalty and has been re-built and added to many times. There was an excellent audio-guide that was interesting and easy to follow, and almost no crowd at all. Plus, unlike Versailles which was ransacked during the revolution, Fontainbleau still has most of it's original furnishings and wallpaper. The chateau is every bit as grand as Versailles in my opinion, although Versailles does have it beat in the gardens. After a lovely visit, during which the kids were excellent, we drove to Vaux le Vicomte, another historic chateau (the one that inspired Louis XIV the build Versailles in the first place). They had golf carts to rent for only 15 euros and we all had a great time driving around the property and seeing the gardens. Both boys got to help daddy drive, they loved it! We had scheduled a dinner the prix fixe restaurant on the property, we were definitely taking a gamble, but since it was the only dinner option in the area we went for it. The kids must have known it was Mother's Day Eve because they were perfect! S was polite, quite, and ate everything. E was just as cute as can be the whole meal. As we were leaving an older American man stopped us, and complemented our children. He said "I couldn't even tell there were kids in the restaurant". A delicious and even slightly romantic (as much so as one can be with your children at the table) meal. After dinner we went into the chateau which had been completely lite by candle light. Gave one such a sense of what it must have been like to live then, plus everything just looks better when lite by a flickering candle. When we came out over 2000 candles had been lite all over the gardens. It was stunning. We all enjoyed a lovely stroll around the gardens. We were having such a nice evening that time got away from us and Gardner looked down to learn it was already, 10:45!! So a very late night out for our kids, but such a nice pleasant day it was worth it.

Today is Mother's Day in America, but not in France. Their Mother's Day is in June. Gardner surprised me with brunch at an American Diner. I have been missing my breakfast like crazy. The food was great and such a nice change. You know the place is good because there is line around the block to get in, full of Americans and French alike. After brunch we went to the Rodin museum, and Napoleon's Tomb which also includes an impressive (if your really into guns and armor) french war museum. Got to skpye with my parents, which was a great end to the day. Tomorrow we are driving to Normandy. We will see the D-Day beaches and Mont-Saint Michelle. Looking forward to a night on the coast.

Happy Mother's Day!

Dordogne and The Eiffel Tower

Phew. We arrived home from the Dordogne late last night. What an great place to vacation. I only wish we had  more time to spend there. I would love to go back someday. The attraction that drew us there were the ancient cave drawings made by cro-magnon man. They are literally the oldest human made-things on earth and they were awesome to see. We of course had to visit the ultra famous Lascaux 2 (an exact reproduction of Lascaux that was created after too many tourist caused significant damage to the drawings). We also went to Font de Gaume where you can see a real original cave. They allow 90 people per day, and only on a guided tour. The kids did great, S managed not to touch anything and thought the whole cave thing was pretty cool. So did we. We aren't talking about a stick sketch here. These are detailed painted animals. Entire herds running around the walls of these caves. The paintings date between 15-17 THOUSAND years old. Amazing.

The Dordogne region has much more to offer than the caves though. It has a rich and long history that includes cliff dwellings that have been inhabited since the cave man up to present day, medieval castles, beautiful landscape with lush green hills, and powerful flowing rivers, and it's a foodies paradise producing all kinds of delicacies. Including: foie gras, truffles, duck, and walnuts. It's a great growing region with excellent local street markets, and lots of yummy restaurants. While there, my family tried a few new foods. S had foie gras for the first time (he wasn't a fan, I'm not really either and yes it was on the kids menu). I tried escargot (much better than I expected and not very chewy at all) and beef heart (I only had a bite of Gardner's). The really great thing about this region, is the food is not only very good, but it's also pretty cheep. Duck confit (one of my personal french favorites) that would cost you at least $30 in California, is fantastic and on every menu for 8-11 euros.

The food in France really is as great as people say. Foods I especially love here are:

- Yogurt (much better than in the US creamer and not as sweet)
- Butter
- Duck
- Mustard
- Cheese (a huge variety all very inexpensive)
- Pastries (I am especially in love with chocolate eclairs)

S would add the donuts. He gets one almost ever morning when Gardner and I get a coffee and a pain au chocolate or a croissant. He claims they are "the best". E eats a mini croissant every day. It's very cute.

Today we spent the afternoon at the Eiffel Tower. All this time here and it was our first, and only, trip to the top. S of course, couldn't let such a fun activity go by unannounced, so while waiting in the very long and very hot (the sun has made it's appearance in Paris and it is HOT and humid) line decided to get some attention by biting his brother. Ugh. Poor E. His punishment was to be buckled into his stroller which he hates, while we waited in line. You should have heard the tantrum. Perhaps you did. That child carried on and on, getting redder and redder as he screamed. I felt so sorry for the people surrounding us in line. That is until, the French Grandma in front of us in line felt the need to direct my parenting efforts by saying "Can't you see he needs your love. He just wants you to love him and hold him. Children need affection and you're just holding the baby."  This is AFTER she witnessed the bite! I responded that he was being punished for biting his brother and that a parent can not back down simply because a child throws a tantrum, no matter how embarrassing it might be. Of course the incident ended with hugs from S and apology to his brother, a short nap from both kids and us all having a great time in the tower. I was really nervous to go all the way to the top. Heights are not my friend, but we had a wonderful time, and Gardner and I even enjoyed a quick champagne toast at the top. It was definitely worth the wait, and views were great. It was a clear gorgeous day. So glad I braved my fear and went for it.

I know these posts are often very long winded and  jump around quite a bit. I have much less time to blog than I would like. Between traveling, sightseeing, laundry, shopping, cleaning, taking care of the kids and sleeping, there just isn't much time left. But we are having a great time, tantrums and all. Tomorrow we pick-up the rental care we will have for a week. We are taking a few day trips to cities surrounding Paris. On the agenda first is Reims and the Champagne region. A Votre Sante!
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