Rocky - The Italian Stallion

When I was growing up I had two best friends: Erik and Rocky. Erik lived down the street from me in Las Vegas, while Rocky, my cousin, lived in the Bay Area of California. Back then we would write letters to each other, on actual paper, with actual writing utensils (we did graduate to word processors in the late 80s). We saw each other on average about twice per year. Once in the summer, usually at Lake Tahoe, but sometimes at his family's home or in Las Vegas. And every year, and I mean every, for Christmas vacation in Salt Lake City. The first one either of us missed was because of Rocky's mission. Those two to three weeks per year were what I lived for. I worked odd jobs around the house and mowed lawns to save money for those vacations. My dad required us to pay for our own entertainment, such as movies, mini golf, bowling, video arcades, etc. Although usually Uncle Bob, Rocky's dad, would cover the tab if he was the one accompanying us, which he usually was. I last went to Tahoe in 2009 (five years ago) and last saw Rocky over two years ago for literally a few minutes while we intersected briefly at Parry's wedding. Well that has now been rectified.

Rocky flew out to the UK on a business trip for Google Local Product Ads, the project he is working on. Between visits to the London and Dublin offices he came to visit us here in Northern Italy. His first day the two of us caught the train to Venice. Rocky posted this picture of us at Rialto which Traci, our cousin, commented on us thusly: "A. You match. B. You aren't touching each other. C. Rocket man, you look so much like Uncle Bob in this picture. D. Cousin time is the best time."

 Here is a shot of Rocky from the Rialto overlooking the Grand Canal. Rocky's reference point for Venice prior to this trip was "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." He kept commenting on how different it was than the movie.

 So we are waking along, eating gelato from Suso, just south of Rialto (fantastic gelato), when we come across this great view with a gondola approaching. Without exchanging any words, I got my hands free while Rocky quickly handed me his phone and got into position for the picture. Just too good to pass up, and we were communicating via telepathy, much as we did for six weeks on the bike trip in 2001.

 On arrival to Piazza San Marco we were witness to a Venice first for me: flooding. Water was coming up through the storm drains. Rocky took this shot while standing on the elevated platform that took us into the Basilica. We also toured the treasury with its Byzantine relics, which I had never seen before.

 Rocky in the Piazza. You can see the flooding behind him. Scaffolding is still there. He took a pass on the pigeon photo. You know how Rocky is about hygiene.

 We toured the Doge's palace and Rocky took this picture of a map from the 16th century. It shows how little Venice has changed in the past 500 years.

Here I am at the Giants' Staircase. This trip was pretty fantastic. We've got Venice down pretty well now, and I still enjoy it every time.

Great story about the end of the trip. Rocky had been looking all day for something nice to buy for Michelle. He wanted a necklace made from Murano glass but everything was either too cheap or ridiculously expensive. We finally found a perfect shop and Rocky picked out a nice necklace and earring combo. The owner was CLASSIC Italian: poofy white hair, gold chains on his neck and wrist, bit of a pot belly, and spoke almost zero English. As he was boxing up the items I said, in jest, "Quando uno viene a Venezia senza la moglie, si deve comprare qualcosa di qualita." (When you come to Venice without your wife, you have to buy something nice.) At that, he instantly stopped packaging and said, "Oh, I have something nice." He walks over to the display and picks out a different necklace and earring set, a little more expensive, but much classier. Rocky and I look at each other and Rocky says, "Let's do it." So now Michelle has a very classy matching set, picked out by a stylish old Italian man, that she will hopefully get comments on and will be able to reply, "Rocky got them for me in Venice."

The next day we did a couple of local hikes and bought way too much cheese at a local market. Rocky took us out for dinner at our favorite local restaurant and we got gelato scoops number 4 & 5 of the trip for dessert.

The final full day Ashley had scheduled a canyoning trip just northeast of here. Canyoning is basically wearing a wet suit and helmet and walking through a canyon carved by a river. Except that you also get to rappel down waterfalls and jump off of cliffs.

 Sadly we only have "before" and not "during" pictures because we don't have a water-proof camera. Georgie came with us, but Isaac took a pass. You have to know how to pick your battles with kids.

Here we are, ready to go. We had a very experienced guide and three other Italian companions, a guy and two girls from a local town. They were very nice and they loved talking to Georgie. When we came to the cliff it looked a lot scarier than it was, since you had to clear a decent ledge. Rocky and I both did it, while Ashley and Georgie rode a natural slide that dropped you from about 8-10 feet high in to the same pool.

That night we went out for pizza so that Rocky could experience the real deal. Strangely, he turned down gelato afterwards. What was wrong with him? Too much cheese and ice cream in too little time.

On his final day Ashley took him shopping to get some things for his kids while I went to work. Before leaving for the airport we went to gelato one last time, scoops number 6 & 7, at Il Dolcefreddo, our favorite local place.

It was just like old times again, except that instead of skiing on Lake Tahoe or at Alta we were exploring Venice and canyoning. And instead of getting Bacchi's and Arctic Circle we were eating at Le Masiere and Ristorante Da Genio. Thank you, Michelle, for sharing your husband with us and taking care of the kids for two weeks. You deserve that genuine Murano glass! And thanks to Rocky for making the effort to come and see us. I look forward to the day that we can reunite in Tahoe or Utah and continue the Wayne & Jeanette Garff Family traditions.

Juliet, our 4 year old Juliet

Juliet is 4

Last night we kissed our last 3 year old and it was so bittersweet I could taste her.  Juliet turned 4 today!  Whoa!  Her 4th birthday is something she has been talking about almost weekly since the day she turned 3.  And even though there could be some anxiety on my part that the day might not live up to all the expectation, I needn't worry.  she was cheerful and grateful all day long.  This is one of the many wonderful things I love about this kid...she is happy 80-90% of the time.  And she brings us up right along with her.  Juliet rights the world for our family so very often. Here are a few examples:

#1. We're in the airport hurrying toward the baggage area.  Juliet and I, as always, are bringing it up the rear. Playing on one of the columns is a video/movie advertisement for a women's clothing company showing a runway of beautiful women strutting down the catwalk.  I was only subconsciously aware of it and the fact that Juliet was watching it until I caught up with the rest of the family and plopped down on a bench.  Juliet was just a couple of yards behind me.  Only then did I notice Juliets face in full concentration mode, her hips beginning to sway and her shoulders falling back.  My first thought was "what on earth is Juliet doing and why is she walking so weirdly?" But that thought only lasted a millisecond because I quickly remembered the advertisement and her intensely staring at it. She was hilariously over exaggerating the hip swagger, strutting along the aisle of baggage claim and her "sexy" face looked a lot more Iike she was ticked off.  It was hilarious however, she wasn't doing it to be funny...she was really trying to look like one of those models. I tipped Isaac and Georgie off to the show and we all laughed and laughed as quietly as we could so she would keep it up.

#2.   We are eating dinner outside when we hear and see the goats from the cheese farm behind us grazing through the dirt road behind our house (mind you this road is probably 3/4 of a football field away from where we are eating).  We hear the owner of these goats in the woods begin shouting in a tone of either panic or frustrated anger, but we aren't sure which.  We all stop, listening intently to see if she actually needs help or not.  We are all perfectly silent.  She stops yelling.  We wait to hear if she'll say more.  We are all kind of on pins and needles.  Suddenly Juliet, who we're not sure speaks any Italian at all yells, at the top of her lungs, "COSA?" (I.e. What?).  We all bust up.  The timing was too perfect but none of us are quite sure why it was so freaking funny.  Regardless, we couldn't stop laughing!

#3.  We are at the beach in Barcelona.  The people beaching it next to us is a group of really hairy men. I'm talking really hairy, every last one of them...back hair, chest hair...all of it.  But none of us mention it to each other or out loud anything.  I wasn't sure anyone else even noticed.  When Juliet gets out of the water I dry her off with the towel I just bought from the beach shack about 20 minutes previous and the fuzz from the new black towel sticks to her skin.  "You're all hairy from this cheapo towel," I say, scrubbing her off even more.  A look of disgust washes over her face. "I think I just got hairy from those humans over there." Her eyes rolling as she says it.  ...Yea...We are still laughing about it... 

 

Today we did the usual breakfast in bed and took cute pictures of the birthday girl.  We had a pic nic after swim team and then took her swimming afterward despite the incredibly gloomy forecast.  Because of the forecast we had the entire place to ourselves.  It was pretty fun!  When it started pouring on us we wanted to stay but felt bad making the lifeguards sit in the down pour for only us so we packed up. Juliet and I went for  a run together, she in the stroller, and then we all watched a movie together. Dinner was tomato soup and grilled cheese and then of course, gelato from 2 different gelato shops;).  It wasn't until after we put her to bed that I realized we had failed to give her any of her 

gifts!  Sweet girl didn't even think of those!  I love that about her!  It's more about the celebration and I love that!!  She had a birthday party last weekend that turned out to be really fun but we are without a computer right now so I have no way to upload photos.  I will have to do that later.  After her party I made it a point to bring to her attention all the people that came and that love her.  She said, " yea but I wish everyone else was here."  "Like who?" I asked her.  She began listing off all of you....really...Gaga, Papa, Mimi, pop pop, uncle Bryant, uncle Adam, uncle jake, uncle Robbie, aunt Sara...on and on and on.  Cousins, everyone. It was pretty sweet!!

Juliet is adored by all of us quite a lot. She is bossy, knows what she wants, thinks she's 20 years older than she actually is and yet still can snuggle and kiss and be held with the best of the babies.  She LOVES books, movies, candy, cookies, baby dolls and playing with Georgie, Isaac and friends.  She rarely stops talking to the point of driving you batty but it's impossible to get too mad at her because she is so darn hilarious and cute.  Happy birthday Juliet...I am soooooooooooooooooo glad you were born and that you were born to US!

 

Switzerland Revisited

Our second adventure with Mimi and Aunt Pam was in the Jungfrau region of Switzerland. We drove up on Saturday and walked the 45 min from our hotel to the Trummelbach Falls. The glaciers of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau all drain through the same area, creating a huge waterfall that cuts through the rock. The Swiss have built an elevator and stairs that take you way up through the mountain following the falls. It was amazing.

Jubie on the hike down from the falls. The town in the far background is Lauterbrunnen, where we stayed. That night we had roesti, raclette, and fondue for dinner. The next morning we had fantastic weather and we took the tram and train to Murren to start our hike.

Jubie conquers Switzerland! It was astounding, as good as last year. Windflowers, sunny skies, gorgeous mountains, and epic hikes. A perfect day.

The peaks from left to right are the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau. Georgie could not stop herself from collecting wildflowers all day.

Family picture, Switzerland 2014.

Mimi and Pam are excited to be here!

As are we! Ashley swore that we would come back with the kids. And we did.

Now this spot was amazing. It is called Almendhubel and it is just above Murren. You can ride a funicular up there but we hiked it. The only downside is that there were tons of Americans that had just ridden up there. But once they cleared out we had the place almost to ourselves.

Jubie hiked almost the whole day by herself! So proud of her. You can see the epic playground under construction down by the restaurant. Our kids were disappointed that it wasn't done yet, but we made it up to them.

I have to pat myself on the back for getting all three of them air bound.

Even Mimi and Pam had liftoff. The curved wooden chairs were very comfortable with unbeatable views.

As Isaac is so effectively demonstrating. We spent a lot of time here, and it was well worth it.

The most epic handstand ever. I love this woman.

Georgie decided to get in on the yoga action with a back bridge.

Jubie was not to be denied and busted out a side plank.

Georgie can plank in the Alps with the best of them.

If you can see Juliet's face, she terrified.

This is a panoramic video shot from Almendhubel:

From Almendhubel we headed down the other side of the mountain to the Children's Adventure Trail. 

This was the clubhouse of a playground that we came across. There were balance bridges, a real barbecue oven, a tunnel to crawl through,  a creek that ran through the playground, a lookout point, and an un-monitored zip line that may or may not have been able to support a human of, oh, let's say, 180 pounds. Video to follow once we get an actual computer again.

And voila:

Another family picture with another view of the three peaks.

Down from the clubhouse area there was another playground with swings, seesaws, and another clubhouse with a slide. We had seen this place last year and thought about how cool it would be to bring the kids back. Done.

Pam relaxing, Mimi watching, Juliet balancing on the seesaw, and Ashley holding Georgie's hand while she stood on the seesaw. There was another American family there from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, also taking advantage of the 4th of July weekend.

Mimi taking in the view from the playground.

I must correct myself. This is the most epic playground ever. The one in Edinburgh is second.

We finished the hike and walked down into Murren, where we ate at the restaurant on the left under the shades with the Eiger in the background.

Thus completed our tour of the Jungfrau region. We caught the train and tram back to Lauterbrunnen and took off the next morning for Italy. We stopped along the way to buy some authentic roadside Swiss cheese.

Georgie at the dairy where we bought the cheese. Alpkase means "Alps cheese".

This is the view from the mountain pass we had to drive over to get from Interlaken region back to the 17 kilometer Gotthard tunnel that connects German-Switzerland with Italian-Switzerland.

The kids, Mimi, and Pam were all thoroughly impressed with Switzerland and we were very fortunate to have one sunny day sandwiched between two overcast ones. That was probably our last trip, unless we can score an invite to the Crandall's in-laws' or we decide to break the bank and go to Zermatt and the Matterhorn. Depends on how much time we have left here...

Venice with Mimi and Aunt Pam

Almost exactly one year from her first visit, my mom came back to see us in Italy again. This time she came with seven less people, so we got the chance to show my aunt Pam around as well. Of course we went to Venice for the day, which Ashley is growing a little tired of but I am still excited about every time. So Ash and the little girls stayed home while Isaac and I played tour guides for the day.

I love this northwestern part of Venice. Not too crowded, but close to the train station and easy to walk to. We went to the San Pantalon and Frari churches again, which I love, and then made our way to the Grand Canal.

A palazzo on the Grand Canal.

The Rialto Bridge. This was something that my mom didn't get to see up close last year. We spent some time at the markets around the area.

The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge. Three generations of Merbacks.

We ate lunch at a place that Pam's friend had recommended then made our way to Piazza San Marco. The basilica still has scaffolding on it two years after our first visit. We toured the inside and then bought tickets for the Doge's Palace.

This is something else that my mom didn't get to see last year and something that I hadn't seen since summer 2000. This is the courtyard with the basilica in the background. The tour is fantastic but slightly long. You get to cross the Bridge of Sighs and tour the old prisons that are across the canal. You also get to see more art by Tintoretto, Veronese, Tiziano, and Bellini than you could ever imagine. Especially Tintoretto. Holy smokes. I didn't think a man could live long enough to paint that much. He obviously had a large workshop assisting him. The old maps and globes were also fascinating. The highlight of the tour is the Chamber of the Great Council with Tintoretto's "Il Paradiso", the largest oil painting in the world.

Inside the palace is an etching of a new Doge being crowned and the top of the Giant's Staircase, which was the main entrance to the palace. Here Mimi is crowning Isaac with her sash.

Another view of the Giant's Staircase, named after the statues of Neptune and Mars which represent Venice's power by sea and land.

Isaac really wanted a picture with the pigeons, but they wouldn't take the cracker and bread crumbs we had. A family nearby was literally covered in pigeons and they had unpopped popcorn, which they kindly gave to us.

Even after the popcorn was gone these two hung out hoping for more.

We took a few last pictures before heading home. This one of the palace facade.

And this one of the Bridge of Sighs. We rode the vaporetto back to the train station and headed home. Thus ended our Venice adventure. The next morning we were up and off to Switzerland. To be continued...