Sunday.
Today had some highs and lows. We started our day waking up at 4:30 to catch our flight to Pisa, Italy. I have to say the CDG is not my favorite airport. We got there and it was really hard to tell where we were suppose to go. Luckily we found the Airfrance desk. They directed us outside to catch a bus that would take us to another terminal. So we waited for that and got to the right spot. This terminal was much, much easier to navigate. It was even easier than CAK which I didn't think was possible. We walked right up checked our bags, spent 5 min going through security (we didn't even have to take off our shoes) and we were waiting it the waiting area. It seems that all European airports like to wait till right before your flight to tell you where your terminal is. After an hour we got our terminal assignment and started to follow the crowd. On our way to the gate we stopped to get a chocolate croissant. We were so busy eating and following the crowd we didn't pay attention to the signs. We soon realized we were going in the wrong direction. We of course corrected and headed to the right gate. No joke we were honestly the last ones on the plane. That was a close call. We tried to sleep most of the way, but the breath taking views of the Alps made it hard at times. We landed and had to take another bus to get to the car rental place. We got to our car and got situated. It has been more than 10 years since Mike has driven a manual car. He was a bit rusty at first and it was slightly scary. He was jerking the car all around and I had this feeling I was going to end up sick. I decided to go in and see if they had any automatic cars on the lot. My exact words we "My husband hasn't driven stick in a long time and is a bit rusty. Do you have any manual cars on the lot?"
The guy looked at me so funny. He asked what do you mean rusty? And do you mean a manual car? Haha. Bad use of English idioms. Anyways he told us no so we just had to practice a little first. Finally he got
the hang of it and we were off. We found the freeway easily with the GPS leading the way. We started listening to the new Dan Brown book, Inferno, and had a snack. All seemed to be going perfectly. Then I noticed the GPS had half of its battery life left and was plugged into the the power source. I tried to push it in further and nothing seemed to work. I started to semi panic but figured where'd be able to get it to work. The GPS had no instruction. We had borrowed a GPS from our friends so I pulled that out and tried to get it to plug in thinking our gps had a faulty plug. No dice, it wouldn't work either and was dead. Our power source was broken. I pulled out the car manual to see what I could learn. Every single manual was in Italian. Then the power switched to yellow and we still had 45 min to go. Panic set in more as I knew once we got off the freeway we had half an hour of winding, twisting, confusing roads. We said a prayer that we would be able to figure out a way to get there and that we would be kept safe. Luckily Mike's phone has international capabilities so I turned it on and googled "Fiat power source not charging." No luck. So I put the address into google maps and it pulled it up but said the GPS function would not work. AHH! I was all out of ideas. And just then the battery went red and started to flash. When my GPS does that I have 5 min tops. I tried to remain calm and knew The Lord would keep us safe. I had some very vague directions from the B&B website I had printed so I looked them over and prepared myself mentally to become Mikes GPS. This is when the roads got really scared. They were literally up a
cliff, hardly any railing with tight roads. Mike was doing all this driving in a stick. He was a champ. Somehow he managed to keep his cool and drive safely. Miraculously the GPS kept working and I was able to warn him when a curve was coming up or was particularly tight. We got closer and closer to our B&B as the GPS kept working. About 25 min after it turned red and 9 min away Mike asked if it was still working. I said yes, and he replied that he knew it was God that was powering the thing. Right after he said that it stopped working and we came to
a fork in the road. I figured we'd go the way the sign that said Monterosso since that was were we were staying. We drove about 8 minutes then dead ended into a restricted area. We drove up to a parking lot and called the B&B for directions. Mike was shaking from nerves and declared this was much worse than driving in the UK. I
didn't blame him. The gal on the phone told us to go back up the road and make a left where the sign said Fagini. So we went all the way back up to the same spot the GPS stopped working and took the other
road. Looking back the GPS gave one final instruction to turn right in 50 yards. That would have put us on the right road. Unfortunately I panicked a little and gave the wrong direction. Within 8 min we were
unloading our bags at our beautiful B&B. luckily the GPS we used had a USB charger and we were able to plug it into our iPad charger deal and charge it. We felt so blessed and looked after.
After a small recovery period from all the nerves we headed down the road to the beach. Holy cow was it beautiful! I couldn't believe how gorgeous the water was or how charming the village was. We walked around a little and got a feel for the town. Then we hunted down some food. We had a margarita pizza, gnocchi pesto (since Cinque Terra is where pesto was invented) and a tomato, motz, oregano panini. It was delicious and very, very filling. After lunch we set off on the hike between Monterosso and Vernazza. It was a workout. Seriously! I was dying. I told Mike I was hiking for two and we would have to take it slow. I was slightly happy when I started to hear him panting as well. The views were well worth the exhaustion though. So we carried on with vigor. We passed a bar on the trail. The guy sold lemonade, water and lemoncillo. We were dying since we didn't bring much water (and it was 80+ degrees plus humidity.) We jumped at the chance to buy a lemonade. Everyone on the trail seemed to stop for something. I told Mike it was probably the worlds most profitable lemonade stand. The hike took us about 2 hours to finish. Which wouldn't have been bad had we prepared for it a little better (left earlier in the day and brought cold water.) When we finally got to the town of Vernazza Mikes back was soaked in sweat where he had carried our backpack and my legs were so tired that anytime I stopped it started shaking and having spasms. We walked through town and decided we would not be hiking any more. I wanted to see the town of Manarola so we took the train there. We didn't spend to much time there since it was getting late and Mike was still fighting jet lag. We got some great pictures then headed back. I loved the atmosphere of these small fishing towns. Seriously right out of a book. Once we got back to town we had some delicious gelato
and headed back to the B&B. We had a deck so Mike enjoyed the sunset outside while I got a few things organized for the next day. Sleep came very easy for us that night.
Saturday
I was so excited and anxious for Mike to come today. This morning seemed to pass so slowly. Amelie had her schools Carimess today. It is like a school fundraiser set up like a circus. The students come to the school yard and they have lots of carnival games set up. Each student plays the game and gets a signature. Once they complete all the games they win a small prize. While this is going on there is essentially a bake sale table set up with drinks to purchase as well as a place to buy sausages and fries. All of it is very reasonably priced so that is how the school makes money. The sausages were seriously bright red and I couldn't for the life of me bring myself to try them. I'm already sensitive with meats and first trimester pregnancy has not helped things. I people watched as well as cheered Amelie on in her games. She's such a sweet little girl. Then around 1:15 I headed back to the apartment to wait for Mike. His plane landed at one so I figured he would get there by 2maybe. When he wasn't there by 2:30 I started to panic a little. I was about to call the 24 hour emergency hotline for the transfer company when the driver called to let me know he had dropped Mike off. I was so happy and relieved to see him. I guess his luggage was the last one on the belt and traffic was bad. We were both anxious to get into the city. It was already 3 and we had a lot to do. First stop was the Notre Dame. Along the way there we got distracted by some crepes. I tried a sugar one while Mike ordered a Nutella and banana one. I think he approved of his first Perisan crepe. Along the way we also saw some gypsies and I warned Mike about them. The rest of the day when he spotted them he wanted to watch them. When we got to ND we didn't go inside because the line was so long. Plus mikes not a church, museum history kind of guy (which is fine with me.) So I gave him a quick summary of the Rick Steve's version then we walked down to the lock bridge and added our lock to the lot. I think Mike enjoyed it and was impressed I brought one from home. It was one where you set your own combination. So I set it as the babies due date. Then we wrote Mike, Kris, Baby= Love. How sweet. Then I took him down to one of my favorite parts of Paris, the Latin Corner. I love all the restaurants and stands. It has such a cool vibe and its almost hidden from everyone else. I took him back to the gyro stand (which I think Europeans call them kababs) and we ordered one. Thankfully we shared, those things are huge! But man are they good! Them we for on the metro to go to the Louvre no time to take a stroll do the river. We took some pictures them were off to the
Arch. Took a few more pictures here then back in the metro to the EIffle Tower. I tried getting off at a different stop that time and I really liked it. It let us out at my favorite place to take pictures with the tower as a backdrop. The area was super busy and I swear we saw some pickpoketers casing us. We took a while trying to get the right photos and a few people volunteered to help take one of us together which was great! After pictures we decided not to wait in line to go up to the top of the tower. Instead we had a rest on the lawn. Poor mike was so tired. Then I forced him awake and we set off for the Metro to head back to Mandys. We only spend 5 hours in Paris but we saw a lot together. Our driver was scheduled to come at 5am the next morning so we had to get up super early. That made me fell better about not staying at the tower longer.We enjoyed a delicious, tart, raspberry frozen yogurt we were went back to the metro heading to Cretiel for the last time.
It's always sad when vacation ends. Sadly today my mother/sister vacation had to come to a close. They got up and packed then the car service picked them up at 11:15. I had such a good time with the two of them. It was so great to spend so much time with my sister Katie. Since her and Elizabeth are the last two kids and both girls they get the group title of "the girls" in our family. So typically when I go home I spend time with "the girls." And only get a few hours of one on one time. This whole trip, but especially the day at Disney, was some real quality bonding time with my little sister. I actually learned a lot about her that I didn't know. She is very artistic. I was so surprised with how well she could think about photography and videos. She also was very thoughtful of others. Several times she would make comments about helping people or feeling sorry for someone. It's just so neat to watch a girl mature into a young women like she has. Other times she reminded me of myself at her age... So boy crazy. She was always on the look out for a cute boy. One time a nice looking fellow came and sat next to her on the metro and she turned bright red. Mom and I just laughed at her. She also got hit on A TON!! I was really surprised. Sometimes I was surprised they never complimented me on my beauty but I guess that's what happens when you get married, old and pregnant. I was also sad to see my mom go home. I was sad we didn't get more one on one time but I'll get that when I go home in Aug. She was such a trooper to put up with Katie and I dragging her around kingdom come. She was so patient when Katie and I would ask her to take our picture over and over and over again. What a great mom. She doesn't even care for traveling but came just so
Katie would have some one to fly home with. I'm always impressed by the sacrifices she makes for her kids. Not only does traveling (especially to another country) stress her out but she's not one to enjoy spending a lot of money and this trip was a little more pricey than the typical one. Anyways it was so incredible wonderful to have the two of them with me and to make memories with them. I was sad that our journey together had to come to an end. Luckily for me I was starting a new vacation with Mike the following day. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and recovering for the week before. I did laundry then took it to the laundry mat to dry.
Mike called to tell me the following horror story he was dealing with at home:
On Thursday night he was driving home from his ball game. His phone rang so he answered it. Since he was so close to home he didn't bother putting it on speaker. As bad luck would have it he got pulled over for using his cell phone while driving (second time for that.) When the officer checked his registration (well technically mine since he was driving my Toyota) he found that it was expired. We just bought the car last April and assumed our registration started then and it was good for two years but apparently it expired in January. So then he got a ticket for driving a car with an expired registration AND the cop towed the car!! He towed it right then and there and made Mike walk home. Luckily he was only a mile away. (As a side note, this cop was incredible rude to him and was very unprofessional. I hope all of the city cops aren't like that. Its an embarrassment to the uniform for them to treat someone so poorly when their "crime" was so minimal.)The next morning he got up bright and early to go to the DMV at 7:45 when it opened so he could renew the cars registration. Come to
find out since the car is in my name he can't renew it, he needed my actually signature. I couldn't fill the form out from Paris and fax it, it had to be the actually signature.
We have always assumed that since we are married that legally what's mine is his and visa/versa, but apparently not. Even if you are married and you own property in just your name and your spouse does not hold power of attorney for you, then you have no legal right to that property. Holy cow!!! So there was literally nothing Mike could do to get the car registered. We thought about having him forge my signature and take it the another DMV but were nervous that if they found out he forged it he would be arrested and miss his flight. So we had to accept the fact the we would be paying $250 in ticket fees $170 to get the car out of the pound and $28 for each of the 13 days the car would be
Left in the impound. That adds up to almost $800... Ouch! After all that bad luck we checked to see if Mikes car was ok on it's registration and of course his was expired too. He didn't have enough time to get it taken care of before he left that night either. So we were panicking that with our luck he would get pulled over on the way to the airport and have his car taken away then miss his flight. Luckily we know a really amazing guy. One of our friends called Mike to hear his horror story and without mike even asking him to take him to the airport Justin read between the lines and offered to take him. What a great guy. So despite the loss of money we actually learned several valuable life lessons and are grateful for them. Everything happens for a reason right? Of course right!
After Mike and I finally accepted our losses I got off the phone and took a heavenly nap. It was much needed! Then it was time for dinner and some good old classic Disney Movies ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Sword and the Stone ) while I waited for Mike to confirm he got to the airport ok and that mom and Katie got picked up from the airport ok. Then I crashed.
Happy Birthday to me!! Today I woke up and my mom had bought me my favorite peach yogurt from Leder Price to have for breakfast. We got ready quickly and walked over to the community center to wait for Mandy's French class. They were going on a group tour of the Louve and invited us to join. Of course it was all in French which initially didn't seem so bad. But after a long day at Disney the day before, not enough sleep and a little bout of morning sickness it was no longer a good idea. It was frustrating to not know what I was looking at and I was to tired and sick to care even if it was in English. We did see a cool Babaloynian piece that had writing on it that was I think 3,000 years old. We also saw the Napoleon apartments. The Louve use to be one of the private residences of Napoleon (I think, remember the tour guide was speaking in French.) anyways it has the same kind of decor and feeling as Versailles. After the tour ended we pushed through the massive crowds to see the Mona Lisa. The crowd was so big it was nuts! I didn't even go up to see it. I took a picture last year and that picture was good enough for me. Lol. I was tired of being touched, pushed around and walking. Every step was precious to me and I was only taking the ones that were essential. After that we raced out of there. We headed to the Eiffel Tower and had lunch at this pizza place by the metro. I had said no pasta till Italy but I was so hungry and it looked so good I ordered some spaghetti and my mom and sister had pizza. I totally made the wrong call and spent the whole time wishing I had a pizza too, the pasta was gross. After lunch we headed to the Eiffel Tower and this time it was open! Yay! So we got in line on the east side (which is said to have a shorter line.) We waited about an hour to get our tickets. Then maybe only 10 Min to get from the middle to the tippy top. I have to admit I was a little scared when we reached the very, very top. It was so high and you realize it's not like a heave concrete sky scraper it's just a bunch of metal pieces. It was swaying in the wind and it had my heart racing. It always amazes me when I have these reactions to heights. I never thought my fear of heights would have me all anxious about this kind of stuff. Even the elevator ride to the tippy top made me nervous. When the elevator opened I was happy it was in an enclosed area. Then we saw the stairs that went up to the very top and that was were it was crazy busy and only partially enclosed. People were pushing and being rude and I almost lost it on them. I was all for getting a few pictures then getting down. We made it back to the middle level and then took a few more pictures. Then we got completely down and headed back to Mandy's. We stopped at the grocery store, Carrfore, on the way home to get some things for my birthday dinner. However, when we got back to Mandy's she had already made us the meal we told her we were planning to make. It was delicious. The day before she and my mom lovingly made me a coconut cake from scratch (my favorite.) So we had that for dessert along with mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yumm. I was so happy to get a cake with candles and everything this year. Last year I think I had a stale donut from the grocery store in London at 10:30 and Mike refused to preform a solo of happy birthday for me. Lol anyways we spent the night being entertained by Amelie and her dancing and signing. She gave me the cutest birthday gifts, a hat, a homemade necklace, and a watch. Very thoughtful. I was happy to get to get to bed though. Katie and I feel asleep watching Peter Pan. We were in the mood for an old Disney classic.
