Campo de' Fiori

This morning, while the girls slept in, Raf and I trekked to Campo de' Fiori for a coffee and some vegetables (we decided to forego the pizza and pasta today in favor of sauteing up some veggies).  

We've actually spent a few evenings and dinners at Campo de' Fiori because the girls love a little cafe there (which serves all the typical Italian dishes and is likely just as yummy as any other trattoria, but they like what they already know). The afternoon and evening crowd is lively, with street performers and musicians filling the center of the piazza. Last night, we listened to a 4-piece band (complete with accordian and stand-up bass) and watched two ladies tap dance their hearts out. The ever-present toy peddlers shilled light-up toys that fly and squish and splat and squeal. There was even a guy blowing gigantic bubbles that floated above the crowds until they popped into sparkling droplets. Since there's no real rush for dinner, you can spend the time waiting for your meal by looking up as the orange sepia Roman sunset gives way to an inky indigo blue that covers the city in a thick night-sky blanket.

But today was our first time in Il Campo during its busy daylight hours. I've heard and read that "true Romans" don't shop there and that it's only for tourists, but hey! We're tourists, so wandered around, looking at the beautiful produce and souvenir stalls, stopping at a caffe bar for a "caffe shakerato" (espresso shaken with ice... basically, an iced coffee with a fancy name!). 

olive oil cans

espresso pots

eggplants

tomatoes

caffe shakerato

The walk there was easy, effortless, took about 10 minutes (as opposed to 20-30 minutes with three girls to herd). The way home was crazy and chaotic, due to a strike or protest that crowded the streets with protesters and police of every kind (lots of different uniforms), as well as a helicopter overhead. Many streets were closed or blocked and we had to find a new route around the city to get back to the apartment. Luckily, it was a fairly peaceful protest (if it was, in fact, a protest), and we made it back only a bit later than we'd expected.

Travel Tips - Erin's European Life Savers

Now that we've been living out of suitcases in Europe for over a week, I feel comfortable sharing a few of the things that have made our lives and traveling with the kids much, much easier. 

1 - laptop - Having a laptop has made it easy to look up various destinations and maps. I love typing as opposed to tapping on my phone or iPad (although we brought those, too, and have used them extensively). The kids like looking up YouTube videos of their fave shows, too, when they're tired and need to veg out. Some people might balk at that - they're in Italy, for god's sake! But honestly, I think they've earned it since they've been cool with walking all over Barcelona and Rome with us. It's a treat... and it keeps us just as happy (no fighting = good, quiet siesta times).

2 - dropbox - About a month ago, I signed up for Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) so that I could upload and store all of my pictures and music in "the cloud" and access them from any computer or device at any time. I had no idea how awesome it would be for traveling! Of course, I can access my travel docs on my phone and iPad and laptop, etc., but I can also upload the pictures from my phone and my regular digital camera onto my computer and Dropbox will automatically upload them to "the cloud" so they are safe and sound. No more worrying about losing my camera or deleting pictures before I get home. My memories are safely and digitally preserved.

3 - tour guide - I've said it before, but I'm a big believer in paying for a private local guide to help you get oriented in a city, especially if you have kids. Some people (and I used to be one of them) love planning a trip and taking out their maps and guidebooks while walking around a city, but now I prefer walking and talking with a guide whose job it is to answer my questions and customize a tour around my family's needs and interests. If we want to stop for gelato, we stop. If we have a question about the ruins, it's answered. If we need transportation, they arrange it. Bing, bam, boom. Even a 3-hour tour once during the trip is enough to get familiar with a local's-eye view of a city and glimpse into the life of someone who lives here. Because of our tours, we've been able to see cities from the inside out, learning about specialty foods and customs and festivals. Often, we'll find ourselves far from the crowds, in spots where the views are spectacular and there are no other tourists in sight. It also ensures that we don't wander in circles trying to find a landmark or a Metro station or a taxi when the kids are tired, which is worth its weight in gold!

4 - adaptors - Buy your adaptors on Amazon for a few bucks before you leave for your trip. We got three adaptors this time and they have been invaluable for keeping our phones, camera, laptop, kindles and hair straightener working. We're lucky that most modern US appliances can convert to both 110 and 220 electrical outlets, so all you need is the right adaptor. When my family moved to Naples, Italy, when I was a teenager (about 25 years ago), we had to have a small converter that plugged into the wall, and then we could plug our appliances into that... but still, we fried our fair share of hair dryers... Needless to say, I'm glad it's so easy nowadays!

5 - go grocery shopping - Even if we stay in a hotel, I like to go to local grocery stores to check out snacks and get bottled water, fruit and picnic items. We've learned that you have to weigh your own produce at most European markets and the machine will give you a sticker to put on the bag (and if you don't do this, you'll get a stink eye from the cashier and the long line of locals behind you!), and you often are required to bag your own items in your own bag. Plus, I love the brand names of foreign products (case in point: Horniman's teas... hmmm...) and it's reason enough not to bring your own shampoo to try something new.

6 - rent an apartment - Sure, you won't have a concierge downstairs, but you'll be able to feel more "at home" in a foreign city if you have your own space. The drawbacks are that you can't call downstairs if you run out of toilet paper or garbage bags, but it's nice to have your own entrance and exit, and to spread out a little bit more than in a tiny hotel room. 

7 - make yourself comfortable - We often find ourselves spending less on touristy activities and a little extra on the things that make our trip more comfortable or enjoyable. In Barcelona, we bought inexpensive beach towels, which we gave to the cleaning lady when we left; it may not seem like a big deal, but we used them over and over throughout the week! In Rome we've had mild weather, but even so, our apartment's A/Cs limp along. When I left the windows open at night, though, we got bitten by mosquitoes. The solution was to buy two cheap fans from an old guy in a little shop around the corner. We'll bequeath them to the apartment and to all the lucky travelers who rent it during the sweltering summer months, but the fans have made our trip that much better! And when I think about it, I'd much rather have a good night's sleep than a suitcase filled with cheap replicas of the Vatican or key chains.

8 - splurge-worthy souvenirs - Before I take a trip, I really think about the item(s) I'd love to bring home to remember my trip, besides pictures and these blog posts. In Barcelona, I took Emme and Serena to Lluis Manuel in the Gothic Quarter for espadrilles. In Rome, I found a beautiful leather purse and Raf bought a wallet. Emme and Serena asked to buy some make-up at Sephora, which they can buy in the US, but they wanted something they'd used every day that would remind them of Rome, so I said yes. Marlowe has gotten several toys and laser-lights to use at night. I also have my eye out for a gold ring to commemorate our 15th wedding anniversary. If it's a nice item that I will use all the time and makes an ordinary day feel special (like the purse I bought or Emme's new mascara), then it's worth the splurge to me. Boxer shorts emblazoned with the image of a marble statue's penis? Not so much.

9 - ziploc bags - I like to grab a handful of various sizes before I leave and tuck them into my suitcase. You never know what you'll need them for: protecting phones if it's rainy, holding the second half of a sandwich for later, carrying Euro coins, separating snacks, etc., etc. 

10 - get into it - If all else fails, just "get into it," one of our favorite lines from "The Darjeeling Limited." Raf and I say this when we don't quite know where we're going or what we're gonna do, but we want to get out and enjoy the city. The line from Darjeeling is from a scene in which the oldest brother (Owen Wilson) is getting a shoe shine and the kid steals his shoe. He hobbles after the boy, then stops and says something like, "I nearly died, Jack's heart has been broken and Rubby's having a child. Let's get into it!" as a sort of battle cry, like there's nothing left to lose. It seems to cover everything. 

Just get into it!

Quality Time, Barcelona Edition

In the constant rush of daily life, especially during the past month or so as we raced to finish up school projects and pack for this trip, I sometimes feel a longing for an intangible something else from my relationship with my kids and Raf. Like I'm missing something, some piece of the larger puzzle of life. 

Quality time.

I say this because we spend a lot of time together as a family. We're super lucky; Raf and I work at home and take the kids to and from school. We're all home for dinner and homework. We go a lot of places together. But when we're rushed or there are too many things to do, that "missing" feeling creeps up on me and I long for quality time.

There is nothing quite like living in a small space in a foreign city to bind a family together. I'm not saying I don't hear But Mom! She's *touching* me! Make her stop!! forty times a day. And I'm not saying I don't escape to the balcony a few times a day to get some "peace and quiet" from the traffic below (which is more soothing to me than the laugh track on "Friends," which is one of our only DVDs that works on the Euro DVD player). But it's been so good to reconnect like this, with hours upon hours and days upon days to just be together, wrestling and arguing and laughing and eating together. 

Barcelona B&B (Beach & Bikes)

There are no mistakes. That goes for life, as well as traveling. You want to plan, but you can't get too caught up in the idea of the end result; for one thing, you may never even get there, and for another, your desires may change and you may find yourself changing course anyway.

(note: Marlowe is trying out weird faces;
it's a rite of passage as an 8-year-old)

The first time we came to Europe as a family, three years ago, I was aching to see Versailles again. I wanted to show the girls the real palace where Marie Antoinette lived and the "movie set" of Sofia Coppola's gorgeous film. Decadence, luxury, style and royal living at its sumptuous, excessive best. 

This is it! I was going to say to them, arms wide enough to envelop Versailles and its grounds as a whole. This is it!

Well. 

That didn't quite work out the way I'd planned. The grounds were crowded and the lines for the palace (and even the women's bathroom) were deplorably long. The Metro ride back to Paris was at least 45 minutes (after a 15-minute walk to the train station). What to do? 

(Imagine the voice of a superhero TV show narrator) Just then, the Shachory family spied a sign at the edge of the fountain... "Rent bikes here!"... Thus changing the course of family vacations FOREVER...)

And so, a family tradition was born.

A few days ago, we rented bikes by Barceloneta Beach and rode north, helmet-free and unencumbered by anything but a backpack, picnic food and a few beach towels, along the sun-sparkling beaches of Barcelona. Past nude beaches and party beaches, naval installments and tourist traps, picnic benches and tapas bars, surf shops and structures built for the 1992 Olympics. 

It only takes a minute or two on a beach cruiser to change your attitude. The world seems better with the sun on your back. I found myself staying at the back of our group, watching my girls in their sundresses weaving in and out of pedestrians, laughing with their heads thrown back, hair flowing in ropy beach waves behind them, the tinkling sounds of their bike bells on the sea breeze. 

At the northern end of Barceloneta, Raf stopped short, eyes on the black-clad surfers lined up in the waves. 

"Surfers?" I asked, lightbulbs popping in my mind.

He didn't speak, a smile on his lips. 

It was a game changer. In other words, if we loved Barcelona before, now that he knew there was surfing, it was all over. Suddenly, the "... but there's no real surfing..." consideration was gone. Suddenly, Barcelona transformed into a viable, livable city for him.

Who knows? 

After two hours, we returned the bikes and grabbed tapas on the beach, served by a blonde girl from Palos Verdes who visited Barcelona four years ago and never left. Then we wandered up to Olimpica Beach and splashed a while and fell asleep on the hot sand, daydreaming about Barcelona and inhabiting all it has to offer. 

Travel Day

Travel days are tough. Planning a trip is so much fun, I tend to forget the sacrifice of hours of packing, getting to the airport, then getting through security and customs so that we can be packed into a tin vessel miles above the earth for half a day. And that when we finally land, we're in a different time zone and we're motion woozy and hungry and have to pee and can't read the signs all at the same time, and when someone speaks to us in a foreign language, we want to admit that we can barely form our own names, much less conjugate French/Spanish/Italian/Catalan/East Texan...

I'm writing this on the second hop of our journey to Barcelona. On the first flight, I watched the final Twilight movie, played solitaire with Emme, and got chewed out by the pilot (don't ask). Thank god for the French, though - Charles de Gaulle has it's fair share of amazing "fast" food (picture of my bulgar and salt-cured tuna salad below). 

This flight is far shorter, which is great because we are far less energetic than when we left California. Emme is passed out next to me, sprawled on the tray table and her stuffed penguin; she was an ashy green color as we waited for this flight on our layover in Paris and I'm surprised she even made it onto the plane. Serena and Marlowe are laying across Raf, who is trying to catch some Zs in the small seat between them. I've slept a bunch today/yesterday... or am I now in tomorrow?... and I'm too out of it to get excited about being 30 minutes from Barcelona...

But... I have a feeling we'll get there.... And we won't want to leave...