Liam's European Summer Adventure: I love Paris, in the Summer, when it Sizzles Moderately

Parlez Vous l'anglais? L'allemand? Non?

with Sue and Daria!

They hung out with us in Cologne for a week-- we barbeque-ed, ate ice cream, saw the chocolate museum, and they took care of Liam for a day when I had (surprise! what?) class. Somehow we convinced them that Cologne is charming (oh, ok, I still like it here), but every place is charming with our little guy.

Then we went to Paris!

outside our hotel room

We could see each other out the windows.

f-8">div>

Bonjour, mama!

We stayed in a fantastic 17th c. building with a crooked and winding spiral staircase (on the 4th floor)-- it had painted tiles on the wall, and THEY BROUGHT BREAKFAST TO YOUR ROOM.

Sue and I loved it, but as Daria (somewhat exasperated) stated, "You guys like old things". Liam actually slept relatively well in the hotel crib, but maybe that was because one day we had... The Day With No Nap. It wasn't as horrible as it could be, but I don't want to repeat it any time soon without an energetic 11-year-old and an experienced mom by my side.

The first day we met up with my cousin Meghan-- she's studying fashion design for a month in Paris-- and took Liam to the carousel and the playground.

We ate fabulously well-- I had lamb sweetbreads, chocolat chaud with citron-thyme ice cream, macaroons (basil-passionfruit! grapefruit-rose! blackberry!), a fish terrine, croissants upon croissants, a sausage that used to not be served to Americans (yay, more innards! Hey, there's no place like Paris for organs and glands), and a brilliant salted-caramel ice cream.

We did not, however, eat the Eiffel Tower made of macaroons.

Liam had a taste of the chocolate by first dipping his frog in it and then his spoon. He also DEVOURED the little pot of carrot ginger cream soup that they gave each of us, roundly rejecting my jar of German baby food. Of course I tried to replicate it here, but oh Maman, you are no French chef.

Daria and I made up a dance, took it to the Eiffel Tower, and performed it-- I just have to add some music to our video.

And of course in The Day With No Nap, I walked Liam up and down in front of the Sorbonne fruitlessly. The kid wants to learn, I guess.

Art Thursday

Liam really let his creative juices flow yesterday. First, he composed his first choreography, "Chair Dance 1 Geminiani".

Then the world of visual art beckoned, and he created his first finger paint masterpiece. Some of it was a knee and diaper-bottom installation, though. Next time I'll invite you to the opening.

(I know it's like sooooo first-time mom to document baby's precious first finger paint smearing, but I like it and it really brightens up our hallway.)

Liam's European Summer Adventure: Love, Italian Style

A few days after Göttingen, we high-tailed it down to Lake Como with my parents for a mini-vacation.

A few general observations:

1. There are many assumptions about Italy-- and the coffee totally lives up to its hype.

2. Eating dinner at 6pm is difficult.

3. Vacation apartments are MUCH better than hotel rooms.

Day 1

We took the EARLY flight from Cologne to Milan, and spent a good half of Saturday actually travelling to the small town of Menaggio. First stop- Milan airport to Como-- no problem. We piled out of the train to the first panini shop. Then, it was time to get on the bus around the lake- it was raining, I was trying to get Liam to take a nap, and the breathtaking views were somewhat menacing by virtue of the almost total lack of guardrails to prevent a plummet into the lake. It ended up being a pretty rainy day, so we hung around our apartment, drinking prosecco.

He does sleep sometimes.

Day 2

Villa Carlotta!

We took the cute tourist train (powered by a tractor!) (think a kid's train set come to life) over to the villa, which had astoundingly beautiful gardens. And, like most of Lake Como, there were Hydrangeas galore.

Then we headed back on the train to go to what I thought (in my bad Italian) was some kind of bone church (like Kutna Hora in Prague), but what turned out to be just a regular church that wasn't even open. Now we had to wait an hour an a half for ou little tractor-train to come back, but meanwhile we were treated to the sights of Italians of all body types and levels of undress sunning themselves in a public park. We seated ourselves a bit out of the blinding sun, and Liam made friends with another kid. (although nothing can compare with the numerous naked German children my parents happened to see in various parks...)

After getting back to Menaggio, we walked through the fancy-pants outdoor market to get to a restaurant, but it turned out that they didn't serve dinner until 7, so it was panini time again.

at the lake in Menaggio, waiting for our tractor-train

Day 3

We went to a cooking class! We took the ferry across the lake to Varenna, and a taxi picked us up to drive us (and the other Americans/Englishpeople) up the mountain to the TINY village for our class-- more winding streets and guard-railless fun for my poor father in the front seat. The class was 5 hours long, I discovered at Liam's lunchtime that I had left his food on the boat, and I learned exactly what I had been doing wrong when making risotto (letting the rice dry out too much between spoonfuls of broth). It was fun, though, and I just have to scan those 10 pages of notes for my dad-- the chef luckily had a 7 month old granddaughter, and her mama gave us some Italian baby food. Liam agreed to eat the fruit. (Note on Italian baby food-- they have jars of prosciutto and rabbit!!). The food was, naturally, astounding, I could have eaten a LOT more, but I didn't want to be such a piggy. After the class, we took another ferry ride to Bellagio where I bought Jeremy some cufflinks, my parents picked up a Pinocchio doll for Liam, and the boy ate salad Caprese.

outside the restaurant

Day 4

Time to go to Milano! Silly person that I am, I thought we would have at least half a day to spend in Milan-- but they way back is looooong, especially if you mess up. But first, we took the boat all the way back to Como, which was relaxing and delightful. Then we were all set to go to Milan on the train-- just one connection!-- and I dragged my parents running through the train station in Saronno only to hop on the wrong train. The train to this charming town:

It was about 100 degrees, and the only seats were in the sun. I did talk to the station guy in Italian, though.

By the time we hit Milan we were all WIPED, so we went to the hotel, found Liam some yogurt and a banana, and tried to get some dinner. NO DICE: in Milan the restaurants don't even open until 7!! We managed to find something, Liam puked up yogurt in the Burger King, and after putting him to bed I had dinner with my Fairy Queen friend Marco. That was lovely, but I wish my parents could have been there with me. Next time we all go on vacation together, Liam will be able to stay up a little later...

It was a great trip, in spite of all of my nonsense. The weather was GORGEOUS, that lake was so beautiful, the tourist tractor-train was perfect, and the boat rides were breathtaking. And we were there together.

Daria and Sue!

Some photo impressions-- more later!

But it's clear that Daria and Liam are having a real love-fest...

This is why dinner takes an hour

Spoiler Alert: He doesn't actually eat the tomato.