• “Kicking some Italian ass”   We were stuck in traffic for a couple hours. Our guide, Daniele, took the traffic problem into his own hands.  He jumped out, stopped traffic that should have come towards us and our bus drove on the wrong side of the street since it was empty at that point. As Daniele marched with a purpose towards all these cars to ask Carter said, “There goes Daniele to kick some Italian ass!” 
• Noah loved not having to wait in line for the Vatican or the Colloseum.  The general public that was trying to see the same attraction had to wait in line for upwards to 2 hours or more. Our EF trip enabled us to claim our reserved tickets and walk right in like super stars! 
• Kane thought the Colloseum was pretty cool. It is amazing that the same style of building is still used today when watching the new Rider Stadium being built. Secretly, I think Kane wanted to be a Gladiator and kick some opponents/lions/tigers into the sand! 
• Jackson loved the pistachio gelato moments. He ate his weight with this delicious treat from Italy. Every city we visited, he would find a vendor that could satisfy his craving!  Awesome! 
• Jordyn really loved the pizza of Rome. It was different pizza from home, but it was good and fresh! She also enjoyed the entire history we learned of Rome and how it came to be. It was a highlight 😊. 
• One of Janet’s fave moments was the carriage ride that Leah, Pam and herself took in Florence. Our trip was complete with a glass of wine to enjoy as the horse clopped along. We had started the ride and asked the driver to wait while one of us ran into a store to buy a small sampling for us to enjoy. I wonder if the ladies of the Renaisaance did the same afternoon entertainment? 
• Leah’s fave moment was driving into the Alps and enjoying the beautiful view of them that we were blessed with from our hotel. We may have even broken into a few choruses of “Do Re Me” and “My Favourite Things” and spun wildly while singing 😜 
• Allen remained true to his German heritage and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and refreshments of the Haufbraushaus in Munich. It was like attending the German pavilion at Mosaic, but on a much bigger and grander scale. The adults enjoyed some beer, the kids were told pop was fine by the waiters, and the pretzels were salty and huge. Some lederhosen may have to become the new Super Seed work uniform! 
•  One of Dean’s best memories is the restaurant in Florence that we visited with Daniele. The risotto and wine were delicious.  The tour of the cellar was inspiring enough for us to return to Florence at some time. 
• One of Pam’s favourite events was listening to our bus driver, Reno, and tour director, Daniele, talk rapid fire Italian as we drove many miles throughout Europe. They would jabber back and forth and then Daniele would laugh. I had no idea what they were saying, but the language they were speaking sounded beautiful. I also loved one night watching Noah use his newly learned Italian symbols to tell our tour director that his meal was so good, by Noah smiling and pushing his finger into the outside of his cheek. That picture is in my mind, but I wasn’t able to capture that moment with my camera. It will forever be just a memory. I also enjoyed finding some German Birkenstocks! 

To compile the above list, I asked each person to supply one memory. There were many duplicates mentions of the Colloseum as all the sports minded people of this group were enthralled with the place. I loved writing about each one as each one brings back a little snapshot and memory of this great experience. I feel blessed to have been able to share this memory with new travellers (Jordyn and Jackson)  travel buddies (Leah and Janet) and family (the schwack of Altwasser’s – Dean, Kane, Noah, Allen and Carter)  There already has been discussion on this trip of where we would travel for the next YGTravellers adventure with, hopefully, Daniele as our guide. Perhaps Greece or Hungary or Czech Republic or Ireland.  This trip was really, really amazing in regards to the food, weather, sites visited, new friendships created, but most of all, sharing it together with friends and family. Ciao! (Can you tell I really loved Italy?) 😜🍕🍦🍷🍻❤️✈️🇧🇪🇮🇹🕗

The time has come for us to fly home and just to relive our memories in our heads. Here is a countdown of our trip:

10 fun people in our group: Janet, Jackson, Leah, Jordyn, Dean, Kane, Noah, Allen, Carter and Pam. The number 10 was the magic number all week that we counted about 10 million times to make sure no one got left behind. 

9 Days of touring and the start of the flights home. 

8 hours time difference from home (8 plus 2 minutes for Watson time)

7 cities visited: Toronto, Rome. Florence, Verona, Pisa, Innsbruck, Munich

6 miles a day we walked on average. Some days a little less; some days way more. 

5 kids who made for a great trip with zero issues! 

4 basilicas in Rome: St. Peter’s, St. John, Mary of Minerva and one other that was really pretty but we can’t remember it’s name. 😊. We saw a lot of churches. The difference between a cathedral and a basilica is a cathedral has its own bishop. 

3 Countries visited: Italy, Austria, Germany. One more Italian word:: Cheers: salutayy. Or Ching Ching but not to Chinese people. 😊

2 Many memories to share in one little blog. What is written is but a snapshot into our full days. 

1 more great trip to add to our YG travellers history blog. So much fun, so many laughs, and so many new experiences! One EF tour director, Daniele, who treated us as friends on what seemed like a personal tour of Europe and had all of us fall in love with Italy (and Germany, as well). One new friend; one more fabulous trip! 

Until we see you in Canada on Sunday, ciao/aufwiedersehen (aufwheatersun)! 

Our day in Munich. 

Good and tuck : Good day 

This morning we toured Dachau (dock-ow). It was the first concentration camp and the training ground for the SS. The kids(and the rest of us) were pretty solemn upon leaving this establishment. It is hard to put into words, ones feelings about the atrocities committed there.  I won’t say anymore other than thank goodness we are Canadians.  

We enjoyed a lunch today in a square in Munich. Janet and Leah found McDonald’s, Jordyn found British fish and chips, and the rest of us found bratwurst, sauerkraut, potato salad and potatoes.  Beer may also have been found easier than water.  Following lunch, we did a city tour of Munich where we saw many interesting spots: Hitler’s Munich Office, Olympic Stadium which was used in the 1972 Olympics, and the BMW world headquarters and factory. After our city tour, we had some spare time where everyone found some shopping to do for such things as lederhosen, cuckoo clocks, Birkenstocks, steins and other cool German things. 😊

On our tour, we also found out that it is illegal to do housework that makes noise in Sunday’s. No vacuuming or washing clothes.  I may adopt that rule in our German descendant household 😉. 

Today, we said farewell  to the incredible bus driver, Reno, who has brought us from Rome to Munich through the Alps. His driving skills are nothing short of amazing, as he can maneuver this big 45 passenger bus and make it look easy. The narrow streets, the traffic jams, the crazy drivers, the incredible inclines in the Alps, or the jabber box guide from Munich were no match for our Reno, the Michaengelo of bus drivers!  We were in safe and capable hands of our awesome driver who lives in Verona. He was a real Italian gentleman all week to us. 😊

For supper we went to a restaurant which usually doesn’t cater to EF groups as the locals only go there. The owner came and spoke with us and served a wonderful roast pork and dumplings meal. Apple fritters were on hand for dessert. As I gave the owner one of our Canadian pins, he commented that he knew the group must be Canadians  as we were enjoyable to work with and we were so polite. Yay for being nice! 

Our Canadian pins that our MP supplied for us have been delivered to many Europeans by most of us. We would give them out when we were paying for things or someone had helped us in some way. We have out a lot this trip. 

Our little group is going out for one more sight seeing activity to the Haufbraushaus before our 6am wake up to start the trek home.    

We had a very early day leaving Austria with a 6 am wake up call. The trip through the Alps was very windy, but beautiful. Allen and I both commented on how there were so many familiar things in the Austria-Germany that reminded us of both our grandmothers, like the abundance of pansies growing around the homes.  Once we reached the Neuschwanstein (sp?) Castle parking lot, we realized we had a mile walk up hill to the actual castle. We all now have “buns of steel”!  Check them out when you see us on Sunday😊. The castle itself was beautiful from the outside as it is the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty’s castle. Dean and Allen took all the kids to a very high bridge for a fantastic view of the castle. All the kids went on it, even those not so wild about heights! Way to go Kane!  Leah, Janet and myself thought our butts had had enough and we walked down instead to do a touch of shopping. We found some fine Swavorski crystals. I even located one that quacks to add to my collection! Noah also had eagle eyes and spotted some regular ducks wearing German lederhosen(sp?) that I had to snap up. Thanks Noah! 

After a lunch of weinerschnitzel, frankfurters, brats, or pretzels, we loaded the bus again for our final city of Munich. It is hard to believe that tomorrow will be our last day of touring before beginning the trek home. 

We are very lucky that the jet lag didn’t seem to bother many of us dramatically.  Most of the group is 8 hours ahead of YG time. Leah seems to have put me on Watson time as we seem to be a few minutes behind the group sometimes. 

Munich or moonchen spelled Munchen. 

Home of the BMW. Driving in traffic, we saw a Jaguar, Mercedes, Volkswagon, multiple BMW and one Ford. No Chevy’s. 

After a day on the road and seeing a castle, we are enjoying a quiet evening in the hotel. Tomorrow will be our last day of touring. Good night.     

We are celebrating Janet’s birthday today! 

Interesting Italian facts:

Average Italian makes about $1000 euro a month. Car insurance is based on the size of the engine. Smaller the income; smaller the car due to necessity. A lot of small cars here like the smart car and even some one person cars. Parking is done completely willy nilly. Frontward. Backwards. Sideways. Whatever way it makes the car fit. 😊

Enroute to Innsbruck via Verona today. The road is so windy it made my headphones keep falling out of my ears. 

Italian saying: you must love the woman, the wine and the singing or else you will never become a saint. 

On our stop in Verona, we visited the balcony of the famous Romeo and Juliet scene. The characters names may be fictional but there really was a Capulet and Montague feud where two children fell in love. The kids got their picture taken with the statue of Juliet and had to touch her booby. Legend has it if they do that they would have good luck for the rest of our lives. An eye opening experience for all of us was when we were being good true Canadians and patiently waiting our turn to touch the statue. We were swarmed and stampeded by an Asian tour group of older adults. We were next in line and all of the sudden found ourselves five deep in a crowd where we were at the end. I tried to be aggressive and have Noah just go up so I could take his picture. I kept getting told no and had my arm slapped many times by an ancient lady. Wow. Those people really wanted to feel up that statue!  We just kept waiting and eventually our kids got up there. 😊

For lunch, our tour guide took the adults in our YG  group to an Italian restaurant where we had a nice glass of wine and a delicious dish of risotto made with the same wine. OMG! So good!!!  We then were allowed to tour the wine cellar in the bottom of the restaurant by special request of Daniel (our tour guide). There were 20000 bottles of wine there and many bottles of cognac and others. They had a bottle of cognac that was worth $50000 euros. We decided to leave it for our next trip. The wine list for the restaurant was huge. Literally. It was a book about 2 or 3 inches thick and the dimensions were probably about 1 foot by 2 feet. 

Austria!

Language:

Groosegot: hello in Austrian 

Bruck : bridge 

Danka -thank you 

We have arrived to amazing Austrian our rooms are spacious, modern, plentiful with hot water and beautiful scenery. The view from our rooms is incredible of the Alps. This hotel is very modern. We will have an early day tomorrow to see the castle enroute to Munich. Later. 

Look at our view from the hotel room.  

Today we visited Pisa. A beautiful church and baptistery. A man came and sang and the acoustics in it were incredible. The baptismal font was large and could be used for full body immersion. The highlight of the trip to Pisa was, of course, the leaning tower. We had great fun trying to line up everyone for the right picture. Well I had fun. The kids were probably ready to be rid of me 😊. Carter and Noah also purchased Armani and Rolex watches at quite a steal of price for those priceless artifacts!  Janet, Leah and Jordyn were having a heated discussion of whether there was a door at the top of the cathedral where some stairs were. It was very high. I don’t think Janet was planning to visit up there anyway. 😊

The meals on this trip have been incredible. EF has really stepped up the meal plan with our kids having seconds and thirds of our first course of pasta and third course of pork and potatoes and salad last night. The ice cream/gelato/panna cotta have all been delicious. The breakfasts have consisted of breads, cheese, meat, eggs, croissants, yogurts, juices and coffee. We may put on a few pounds on this trip. I’m just happy the kids are content. 

Our hotel in Rome had spacious rooms in a hillside hotel. In Florence (or just outside of Florence really) the rooms are a little different. Dean’s room is similar to a prisoner cell with it being very small, the boys have four single beds in their small room so the beds make one solid bed from wall to wall, Leah, Janet and Jordyn are sharing a room with a set of bunkbeds and ours is a regular but small room. It is a little hard to completely open all suitcases at the same time. Hahah! The showers are a little limited on pressure and hot water, but they are clean and comfortable. 

Italian words : 

deAmmo – lets go

 allora – all right 

Arrivedeci- I will see you again 

Thank you- graci 

You are welcome  or I pray-  prego

How much does it cost- quanto costo 

How are you- Comma sty 

Ch sound Always hard c.  C is ch sound. Go figure😊

Posted at 130 pm Italian time 

We have finished our day in Florence. We had a city tour, saw a replica of David, (nobody in our group was willing to book a reservation for the museum to see the original) , saw a leather making demonstration (really just a disguise for a leather purchasing opportunity), and had free time to shop and enjoy the city. Our always entertaining group found ways to keep themselves busy:

Noah had an interesting story of some guy trying to sell the kids group a wristband. Carter kept saying that he wasn’t going to buy it but the guy kept wrapping it on his finger. The guy finally told them in an exasperated humorist fashion that he “knew he wasn’t buying” it. There were a few more interesting word choices that Noah told me but I’m thinking they aren’t fit for the blog.

Jackson bought a goo ball that the vendor told him would not break , but he also shouldn’t push his finger into it. Guess what happened.  It broke all over Jackson’s shirt. Oops. Jackson also bought a $9 ice cream, but it was huge. He had no problem finishing it. 😊

Kane is a shrewd bargainer. Only spending $5 euro on a shirt. What a deal!

Carter made an interesting purchase of some underwear that resemble the David statue. He thinks he should wear them for phys Ed and badminton. His mom thinks otherwise.  Carter also had an interesting occurrence. He has a special friend from Rouleau who he spotted in Florence on her own EF trip. What a coincidence to run into a friend from back home! 

Allen and Dean did some shopping in the Hard Rock Cafe. They may have found deals on beer. 

Leah, Janet, and myself (Pam) went for some shopping. We ended on a carriage ride enjoying a glass of wine. What a beautiful half hour of clopping clopping clopping through the Middle Aged streets of Florence. We may have also found some deals on leather jackets, purses, sweaters, cups and bells. We were busy! 

We enjoyed another wonderful Italian meal of chicken, potatoes, salad and chocolate cake. This really is a great eating holiday. Nobody is going hungry! 

Only clocked just shy of 8 miles today of walking. Our friend from Montmartre will be rejoining us tonight as a duplicate passport has been created at the Canadian embassy in Rome. They are to take the train tonight from Rome to our hotel in Montecatini Terme (just outside of Florence towards Pisa). Hurray!!   We will be back to a happy family of 29. 😊

Tomorrow will have us travelling early as we will go to Verona and then in to Austria and way up in the Alps! Ciao!  

Today had us visiting the Coliseum and experiencing the world of gladiators!  The structure of the building is incredible. One of my  questions was if the Romans could put a tarp on it in 880 AD, why can’t the powers that be put a roof on the new Rider Stadium?? The Romans also need knew how to tailgate, support their heroes, hangout in the bathroom together and meet new friends, and enjoy themselves at the Games. I think they were probably the original Rider fans or else we are all descendants of them!

We toured the Forum and truly witnessed the “lasagna” which is the different layers of history of buildings and civilizations in Rome. It makes me question why in Canada we think that buildings need to be torn down after 40-50 years. We could learn some things from the Romans. I guess they put their money into building materials and not so much into labor costs. They mustn’t have had to worry about unions back then. 😜

As we left Rome after lunch, our tour guide played an Italian song, “arrivedeci Roma” as good bye Rome. We were to promise to come back to Rome at sometime in our lives. Our group enjoyed the atmosphere, the hospitality, and the food of Rome very much!  First leg of our journey has been a success and now we are enroute to Florence on our bus with a pirate symbol on it!  One young man from Montmarte enjoyed Rome so much, he and an adult are staying behind to get a new passport created for him. We are told they will catch up to us via train when it comes/is created. We hope to see them soon as no one wishes that kind of bad luck on anyone 😢

We have many pics that we have taken but our wifi has been intermittent so I haven’t been able to post any yet. As a funny side note, Carter has brought a pic of his sister with him and has been taking pics with the pic in different situations. Today we took an Altwasser family pic at the Roman Forum with Justine. 😊.

Jackson and Noah continue to show their youth and exuberance by literally bouncing off the walls on our walks as they run up the walls and bounce off of big stones. I keep trying to capture it on camera, but they are really fast. They both are really enjoying their selfie sticks they have purchased for their phone cameras (many of us have purchased them as they are the “thing” to buy from the street vendors).

Kane’s quiet gentle smile is quite common these days as he quietly drinks in the sights and smells of Rome. He is always quick to notice small details. He quickly pointed out that the lines at the Colisuem were so much longer when we came out then when we came in. He knew exactly where we were and where we had been.

Jordyn is showing that she is a shrewd bargainer as she comes back from the vendors with much better deals than anyone else seems to acquire. She would be great the vendors on the Mexican beaches.

Italian gestures for speaking:

Fingers together and pointing towards yourself- what the hell are you talking about?

Finger in cheek- delicious!

Gunshot – it is finished

Hang 10 symbol – your spouse is committing infidelity

Hand up and sliding away – go away. Add a hand chop and it means or else I will beat you.

Momma Mia- I miss my mommy now.

Ciao Rome and bring on Florence and Pisa!

We stopped at a market and tried some samples of pate, oil, vinegar, wine, hand lotion, etc. A good stop! We saw the train go by us on its track. It was going 280 km a hour. A wee bit faster than our bus. Haha!

Have hit very heavy traffic enroute to Florence delaying our arrival by 2 hours.

We have arrived at the hotel! 2 hrs passed our eta. We have witnessed travel jams in Canada before but nothing like that!  At one point our tour director hopped out of the bus, directed traffic so we could drive down the wrong way to bypass everyone. As he strolled away from us with a purpose, Carter said, “Daniele is going to kick some Italian ass!”  We are all good except for some empty stomachs and very full bladders. All is good!

Welcome to the Montmarte parents who are reading! Hope I haven’t spilled any beans. Your kids are great and very friendly towards ours!  Prairie  kids rock in and out of the country!        

Happy Easter from Rome! 

A rainy day here but everyone has purchased beautiful umbrellas and ponchos. We have walked a lot so far. Over 7 miles so far with probably a couple more to go tonight as we will go on a “Rome by Night” tour.  

Items witnessed: Pantheon. Castel. Trevi fountain. Spanish steps. Montmarte kids trying cigars and drinking beer. Our YG kids are being Angels as expected! They are leaving their chaperones in the dust running up huge blocks of stairs. My I admire their stamina! 

Leslie: Jordyn is perfectly happy and content. She said she has tried to contact you but she can’t access wifi due to bad luck. I have offered my phone but she is a little stubborn. 😊 no worries. We are clucking over her like the 3 mother hens that we are 😘.  

The food on this tour has been fantastic.  No hungry kids or adults this time 😊. Salad, pizza and gelato for dinner tonight. Delicio! 

All is good and we are all happy and enjoying life!  Ciao! 

 Italian words: Piazza. Equals square 

Update: Rome by night was good. We saw the Jewish ghetto which the Italians emptied out and sent the inhabitants to Auchwitz which was a sobering story. We had a chance to visit the Coliseum by night for a few pics. We will tour it completely tomorrow before heading to Florence after lunch. Today’s total for today was 9 miles of walking. A few 😳 are reporting that their tootsies are a little sore.  Ciao!  

We have started the journey to Italy. Just waiting for our flight to leave to Rome All ten of us are eager to fly out of here from Toronto 😀. The boys have totally adopted Jordyn as one of them. All is well. Ciao you crazy Canucks!  Short day of walking today clocking in at 2.5 miles.