Where did the time go? One minute it was July and now it is already October. I feel as though I blinked and four months went by. Dear Daughter stands taller than me and has entered the teens. School started and we already have two swim meets completed. Where did the time go? Am I enjoying it all as I once did or am I just caught up in life? Perhaps, it is a little of both.
I am not complaining. No, I am not complaining. We spent the summer of a lifetime...almost in constant travel mode. Four trips to France, one trip to Spain, once to Holland and twice to Italy. I think that our backpacks stayed packed for the eight week summer holiday. You have heard about most of the trips in one way or another. Italy, however, was incredible.
The first visit was with Dear Daughter on a hectic 27-hour blitz. We flew in just in time for dinner, took an incredibly expensive water taxi ride along the canal and loved it, ran after off-duty train conductors while trying to figure out which train would take us out of Venice and to our hotel. We laughed at our mistakes, sweated in the near 90-degree temps, searched for restaurants with air conditioning and managed to stay at a hotel that I first stayed at over 25 years ago. It was quiet, comfortable, and most importantly...had AC. We had a marvelous tour of the city, enjoyed our tasty lunch and then boarded our bus back to the airport and home by midnight. I learned that traveling with my daughter can be fun and it is nice that she can share in some of the duties. I no longer have to search my purse for reading glasses, as she can work the kiosk and get our train tickets.
The second visit was to Rome for Labor Day weekend. We were fortunate as our apartment was located far away from the tourist crowds...in a working neighborhood of the city...known for it historical culinary ties to the region. We shopped for food at many of the local speciality shops and enjoyed our courtyard in the evenings. Sure, we could walk to the Coliseum and we did enjoy the Vatican but our little area...stole our hearts.
That brought us to the official end of summer and back to school and work. It has been a whirlwind and a little difficult getting used to the later nights, the rush to get homework completed...just the regular everyday living that occurs no matter where you live. However, we are still very lucky. While our trips are centered around the weekend, we continue to travel nonetheless.
Dear Daughter's birthday trip was to Paris for a quick overnight. We stayed in our favorite neighborhood, just near the Eiffel Tower, and enjoyed walking around the streets which have become so comfortable to us. It was a dining extravaganza. Saturday night, our reservations brought us to our favorite duck restaurant, where we feasted on foie gras and a plate of duck charcuterie. Dear Daughter loved the chocolate cake with the never-ending candle. We actually slept in on Sunday and headed to another favorite family restaurant for a long lunch. The small restaurant seemed overtaken by the Mexican Ambassador to France and his family, who were there to celebrate the birthday of their son. Yet, when the lights dimmed and a scrumptious bowl of chocolate mousse topped with yet another candle arrived for Dear Daughter, the entire family participated in clapping and singing yet again. We did all that and were still home in time to have dinner.
This weekend is another trip to Berlin and I think that this is one of Dear Husband's favorite cities in all of Europe. I love Paris...he loves Berlin. We had a good excuse to visit...Dear Daughter has a swim meet. The following weekend, we show Dear Daughter Seville, Spain. We needed another excuse to return. Somehow, we will manage to get school work completed, clean the house and do all those other things. Perhaps sometime in November, we will all collapse in exhaustion. For now, we are doing very little cooking but managing to travel in our way...which isn't all that tiresome. I write in my head constantly but it never seems to get on paper...or online.
Oh, and did I mention that next week I begin full-time employment...no, that will not complicate things a bit!
