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civita di bagnoregio

or otherwise known as the place that max made me very very scared!

truly, i'm really pretty brave of heart. fact: the streets in italy are narrow and people drive with the opinion that fast is good, lines on the road are a suggestion, and that more or less a stop light is to be paid attention to. i've become accustomed to this.

yesterday max is driving us to our next adventure...beautiful winding roads, the sun through the trees, nice music...all is good with the world! he points off to my right, and there it is...civita di bagnoregio...this incredible LITTLE village that you get to by bridge...a narrow scary looking bridge that appears to span the grand canyon!

and before we know it...max is off the main road, headed STRAIGHT UP...on what appears to be a paved cowpath. truly, i thought this would be the end...lol. of course, max stopped so we could take our LAST picture..

after a breathless drive DOWN the cowpath road, we were off to get to the village. once there, the kids were thrilled to run up the bridge to the village and to begin exploring. max explained that very few people live in the town...maybe 8, but, the intrepid shopper carlee was STILL able to find a place to purchase postcards and other things. eventually i would think her money SHOULD run out!

again, another beautiful village, with a different look than other villages...made of tufo rock--so darker in color, more primitive in architecture, but still absolutely amazing.

i am daily reminded of the beauty of our surroundings and sad to realize that in 7 days we will be headed back home. this has been a wonderful experience for us all...i hope the kids will remember this forever with fond memories....

we have many great adventures for the last week of our trip, but, am very unsure if we will be able to go to pompeii. evidently, naples is in the middle of a huge unrest regarding garbage. it may not be safe for us to travel there. while i am saddened that we may not be able to go, i am not willing to put our safety at risk. we may just have to save that adventure for another time.

still we have: rome, perugia, marmore falls...and i'm sure other things that max and cris haven't shared with us yet!

ciao...

h, k, c

orvieto

aahhh, orvieto...my new MOST favorite place...i have decided...i want a castle just a few kilometers from orvieto. now to just let mitch know we're moving...and to find a wealthy individual to purchase it for me...then my plan will be complete!! (ok, so, if you are going to dream...dream BIG...right??!!)

i LOVE orvieto. it's that simple. built on tufo rock that is flat and dark in color compared to the stone and light of the other umbria towns, orvieto is the only city that we've visited that you didn't go UP steep hills, and DOWN the narrow streets all the time. it is a nice size city with the charm and the art feel of firenze, but without the constant traffic and throngs of people. i'm sure that during the tourist season it is much busier...but, in relationship to firenze, i'm sure it still retains all of it's beauty and charm.

it has a stunning duomo, beautiful winding, narrow streets, and lots of shops! this is an important point for sis, who, i swear, can shop ANYWHERE...more to that story later...

anyway...the images...that's all you REALLY want to see...right??!!

enjoy,

h, k, c

florence: day 1

we met max, cris, and fedi in the square of stroncone right away in the morning...it was very foggy, so we delayed our trip for a little bit.

it was about a 2 hour trip to florence, so off and on the kids would fall asleep. i tried to see as much of the countryside as possible, but with the thick thick fog, it was nearly impossible. as we got into the tuscan region it was interesting to see the house architecture and colors change from that of the umbria region.

in the tuscan region, homes were built of brick vs. the stone that the homes of the umbria region. you see more yards with grapevines...even tho it's winter here, the vines are still beautiful...so twisted and gnarled.

fedi was VERY excited when max said we would stop at autogrill...italy's version of fast food...but is slow food. what that means is that it is good food, much healthier for you, is still convenient...but perhaps not AS fast. pannini, pizza, other incredible foods...prepared in front of you...quickly....and oh so good! i wish we had an autogrill, i'd gladly trade our mcdonalds in for it!!

we reached firenze shortly after lunch. wendy and franco, the owners of our house in stroncone, were kind enough to get us into a bed and breakfast in the center of firenze. after checking in, off we were to their home. wendy and franco have a stunning home on the top of a building that allows them a view of firenze like no other. along with having a beautiful home, they have 2 absolutely wonderful children, uri and karina. uri and karina are a couple of years older than kyle and carlee, but it didn't seem to matter. carlee was ecstatic to have another little girl to play with, and before long, the makeup was out, hair was being done...and it was girl heaven. kyle, uri, and fedi soon were being typical boys...running, chasing, and playing playstation.

we were able to drag kyle, fedi, and carlee off to the academia to see michelangelo's david. what an incredible incredible piece of art...i cannot imagine the talent it took to create it. wendy shared with us that michelangelo created it from a piece of marble that had sat for quite a period of time because it had a crack in it. in order for michelangelo to carve the david, meant he had to work from the top left to the lower right of the marble, therefore not carving david from top to bottom, but instead in a diagonal. i can't even wrap my mind around how difficult that would have been!

we were unable to take any pictures in there...so, you will have to 'google' michelangelo's david if you are interested in seeing the sculpture. i did have to laugh...carlee has seen the david on spongebob...and when she saw it in person her mouth fell open in amazement, and then she asked 'where is his clamshell?!' to cover his, uhm, parts...i could only laugh.

franco took the adults on a tour of more of firenze as night came, and wendy took the kids back to their home. franco is a wonderful tour guide, having grown up in firenze his entire life. we went to the piazza signoria, ponte di vecchio, and so many other wonderful places. i honestly think that firenze is my favorite city so far...at least for the cultural elements. to think, that the renaissance masters studied here...stood in the piazza, walked these streets...created, dreamed, discussed and argued ideas and concepts here....aaahhhh...i think i am in love.

then back to wendy and franco's for an INCREDIBLE meal...wendy is such a wonderful chef and hostess! i do not like to cook, but, the dessert that wendy shared with us was amazing, and i will have to contact her for the recipe, as kyle has asked numerous times now if i would/could make that once we get back home.

we didn't go to many of the museums with the kids, as the paintings and things really didn't interest them all that much. it was best to travel the city on foot and see, experience, and learn, and so that is what we did on sunday...

h, k, c

florence: day 2

sunday we awoke to a bright overcast day...met up with franco and wendy at their home...said our goodbye's and thank you's...exchanged email and physical addresses, and after a few pictures we were off to explore firenze with the kids.

wendy was our wonderful tour guide this time, and she was fabulous with sharing amazing little details about the beautiful buildings and general history of the city. truly, because of wendy and franco, and their sharing of history and knowledge of firenze, our trip was simply incredible!

we traveled through the marketplace, where once again, carlee is overwhelmed by all the things you can buy and the choices...she almost has system overload...and i think she has nearly spent all of the money she saved...i believe she will go into shock and be sad when her money is gone and that we will still be in italy. i bought a gift for krish and a scarf for myself, and carlee purchased a purse and a snowglobe for her collection.

it was fun to travel to see the same things we had seen the night before, but this time with the kids...there is a different feel to the city in the daylight...as well as the contrast of the buildings at night and in the day made it very interesting.

carlee became very cold after awhile. max gave up his sweater, i gave up my scarf, and before long, she looked much like the street urchins begging for money. i kept thinking to myself that this COULDN'T be my child...but the blonde hair and brown eyes were the give away that she was.

after eating in an outside bar, we wandered our way to ponte vecchio, down the street below the corridor that the medici family would travel in for safety from the government offices to their palace, and eventually back to max and cris' car for the drive home.

almost immediately, carlee and fedi fell asleep, leaving the rest of us to discuss rome, the colliseum, and gladiators. max and cris are so very knowledgeable about the history of italy that it makes it so interesting to distinguish between the 'movie' version of history and the reality. this is such a fantastic trip for kyle...as he has just learned about the greeks and romans in 6th grade...he is really SEEING history.

after many questions, we arrived at an outlet mall. once again...carlee goes into system overload! she wants to buy EVERYTHING she sees...lol. it's a good thing we packed a couple of duffle bags so that we can check her new wardrobe home for her...

back on the road and home...it was a short night, and everyone went off to sleep dreaming of the renaissance, of perseus and medusa, and the medici family and their support of the arts...

buen notte,
h, k, c

fedi's school

today we got to head into fedi's school to begin our cultural exchange. it was great fun to speak for an hour with students kyle's age. they had some fantastic questions...weather, what do we do there, as well as wanting to know about the religion of the people in south dakota. we talked a lot about the native americans and their culture, the shear size of south dakota in relationship to the size of the population, as well as how young our history is compared to that of italy's thousands of years of existence. it was great fun to see the excitement, the understanding, and the enthusiasm of the students! thursday we will meet for 2 hours with the 17 and 18 year old students. i am SURE that that will be an interesting 2 hours.

a little grocery shopping, some lunch with cris, max, and fedi, and the kids went to play a bit of soccer. that didn't last long tho, as fedi evidently ran too hard after eating and promptly got rid of everything he ate...on the soccer field. he didn't seem too disturbed by it, but carlee...well, that was it for her! some bike riding, and then it was down the hill to put away our groceries, and spend a family day relaxing...working on homework, and going through the many images from the weekend.

i am truly humbled by this entire experience...as i sit in a home that was built in 1000, next to a warm fire...i still am amazed that the kids and i are fortunate enough to have this wonderful trip. i will be forever indebted to cris and max for their kindness and generosity in allowing us to share their lives and their italy...i truly love and thank you my friends...honestly...i don't know how i will ever be able to repay you...

baci e abbracci,
h,k,c

today is friday. it's hard to believe that it hasn't even been a full week and we've had such incredible adventures, and we have 2 more weeks yet!

today has been a relaxing day, because tomorrow we all (our family and max's family) will drive to firenze (florence) for the weekend. wendy and franco, the people who are letting us stay in their home in stroncone, live in firenze, and have many things planned for all of us. we will have lots to share when we return sunday evening!

this morning cristiana and i went into terni, where i was able to do all of our laundry at a laundromat. same idea as in the united states, but, with only 5 total washing machines, and 2 very large dryers. there is an attendant that helps you with the paying of the machines, and is watchful of your clothing. we decided that with the colder rainy weather of the past few days, that this was a much quicker way to do the laundry that we had acquired. it was nice to have some time with just cristiana, having left the kids with max. we had a cappuccino and shared a pastry, and then it was time to switch the clothes to the dryer. then off to the grocery for a few things, and time to come back home. max prepared a wonderful lunch of pasta with red sauce! much laughter, a brief game of soccer, and the kids and i brought our laundry and groceries back to our home.

kyle and i worked on quite a bit of math and some social studies, and carlee on reading. then everyone separated for a bit of much needed quiet and relaxation. i worked on the blog and images, kyle watched some italian tv and promptly fell asleep, and carlee took a laptop to the bedroom to watch a movie in english.

tonite is an evening that we will join the brunelli family for a supper of leftovers, and for max, cris, and i to work on the details of the 'italy art escape' that rod evans and i will be having in matera, italy in november. max and cris have such wonderful ideas to make this trip spectacular...it makes it hard to think that it is so far away yet!!

ciao for now...we will post more after we return from firenze!

h, k, c

we've neglected the blog...bad travel journalists!!

in the last couple of days we've:

wednesday:

we explored stroncone on our own, taking lots of pictures of cool doors, walls, and so much more! it is so much fun to see what the kids "see". carlee is excited by rocks, plants, and animals. kyle, allora (well), ANIMALS!! he has more pictures of cats, dogs, chickens, pigeons...i worry that when we get home, he won't remember what ITALY looks like...LOL! me, i'm drawn to old people. i love the fact that the older women are still so dressed up...heels, stockings, beautiful jewelry...and they walk everywhere with their bags of groceries, or other things. it is what i imagine italy to be.

later that day we spent time with max, cris, and fedi. the kids are so funny to watch. fedi speaks little english, my kids speak MINIMAL italian, yet they are able to play and communicate very well! playing is the same in any language!

to end our night, cristiana took us into terni to shop. sis was in her 'happy place'...she ended up with beautiful italian boots, many outfits, and jewelry. she loves cristiana so much, she wants to be just like her...so the outfits she bought reflect cris' style. max is kyle's 'style role model', liking his zip sweatshirts and boots, so, his purchases were of the same look. i decided that i like fedi's look...sweatshirts and sweatpants, but no one would let me dress like that! instead i ended up with a couple of pairs of pants and a nice sweater.

thursday:

the day started with working on homework with the kids. it's hard to keep them focused with the excitement of the town around us, but, we are pushing slowly through the many assignments that were sent with us. after an hour of homework, we met max in the square, and we took off for our adventures for the day.

we headed to the top of the mountain...to where marmore falls begins. this is a manmade falls (we will see the falls in action next week), that was built by the romans. the reason they 'split the mountain' was because one valley was always being flooded, and the other valley was very dry. they diverted the path of the river to change the conditions to be more equal on each side of the mountain. the falls are 'turned on' certain days, and we will see that next weekend.

on to piediluco, a small village on a lake. we stopped and took pictures there, and ate a nice lunch of peppery prosciutto ham and crusty bread sandwiches. sis couldn't get the sandwich in her mouth, so max had to squash it flat for her. the proprietor of the shop had ALOT to say in italian to max, and we later found out that he was quite intoxicated and just rambling...it was really quite funny.

off to labro to see a 'real castle'. honestly, if i could have lived in any time period, it would have been the time of the renaissance! so, to satisfy me, max took us to see a real castle with a prince that still lives in it. i love the protectant walls, the huge doors, the square, then the interior door. max was explaining that the reason for the double doors was if the invaders were able to permeate the first set of doors, the villagers could 'trap' the invaders in the square with the second set of doors. once they were trapped, then the villagers were able to pour hot oil on them or throw stones, or whatever else they could at the invaders. another good reason to not be an invador during the renaissance!! more pictures, exploring, and enjoying the beauty that is italy...

next we headed to the narni underground. narni is a medieval village that battled with stroncone for almost 500 years. narni has a wonderful treasure...the narni underground! 20 or so years ago, roberto and his friends were just teenagers and they discovered a crack in the ground that gave them a glimpse of something special inside. that discovery changed their lives forever! they have been excavating this site and have discovered a dominican church that had been buried for centuries. thanks to max and his connections, we were able to tour the underground with roberto! once inside, we were able to go in the small church, where it is an active 'dig', saw bones that have been discovered, as well as the altar and the stunning frescos that time has preserved. farther into the underground is another room that houses the invention 'gamba' which is a device that helped the romans make straight lines as well as 90 degree angles. this instrument aided in the creation of aquaducts, intersections, and building of walls that would protect the cities. yet deeper into the underground we came to one of the sites of the Holy Inquisition..the torture room. within this room is a 'rack' used to stretch it's victims, stock's, and other devices of torture. the kids were in shock that the dominicans used these when questioning people accused of crimes and heresy.
suddenly...mom didn't seem so mean in their eyes!! LOL. Then we were shown the prison with the stories of those held there carved into the wall for eternity. such a cool moment for the kids to see that things occurred in the 1700's could still exist. the history of this and so many other places is simply AMAZING!

we ended the evening by heading to a wonderful pizzeria, run by a man from napoli (naples). we had a variety of different pizza's. i am so proud of kyle...he tried everything that was brought to the table: octopus, clams, EVERYTHING! he is such a great 'explorer' and i was very very proud of him.

OH, and the most exciting thing for carlee was...

SHE LOST A TOOTH IN ITALY! she left her tooth in a glass by her bed, and in the morning a little mouse will leave her money...we'll have to see if the story is true..

another wonderful day!

h,k,c

allora...what does one say??

i think jetlag is finally setting in with the kids.

after an evening that they couldn't/wouldn't go to sleep until 2:30 am, morning was difficult for both to handle. it was tough rousing everyone, but we finally met max at 9:30 to head to see the Sibillini Mountains. neither of the kids had really ever seen 'MOUNTAINS' before...so it was fun for them to photograph them. carlee took the stunning shot of the mountains with snow, and kyle's gorgeous shot is the one with the sunset of the same mountains from afar the night before.

after the mountains, we went to the village of norcia...birthplace of st. benadictine and st. scholastica. we ate in a very cool butcher shop enjoying fresh ricotta cheese and prosciutto ham sandwiches. what a cool experience! the butcher was so friendly and gregarious...we had to have max take a picture of all of us!

a quick explore of st. benadictine's church, a few poses of the kids in front of a 'real' castle, and a wet walk back to the car... we headed back to stroncone.

and that's where life got just a BIT more interesting...

a few minutes after max and cristiana dropped us off, we had a knock at our door. sis opens it to find an older male resident of stroncone, who, we later found out, is living below us. Polinice starts speaking rapid fire italian...with me saying 'no italiano' over and over...but he doesn't even stop to breathe! he kept going, and going, and going, to the point where i finally called max and handed the phone to the gentleman. after a brief exchange, the older man hands the phone back to me, and max then explains that the kids have been jumping on the floor, and 'he is 90 years old and sick and can't have that noise'.

UGHHHH....i feel terrible, keep apologizing in english and italian, and with a final buena notte, he heads out the door.

i sit down and cry...not a good way to make friends in a new land.

thankfully, we eat, kids do homework...yes...i said homework, and they are off to bed by 9:30pm.

one can only hope that tomorrow is better, and we make friends with our elderly downstairs neighbor...world peace would be good...

keep your fingers crossed for us,

ciao...

h, c, k

we are here!

WE MADE IT!

after spending a wonderful evening with krish and her kids, we left for the airport very early sat. morning. we flew to philadelphia where we went and saw the liberty bell, took a horse drawn carriage tour of the city, and lastly saw ben franklin's workshop.

only one minor problem, going through security, carlee had her new snowglobe, that she paid $7.00 for, taken by the TSA. evidently it was over the 3 ounce liquid limit. after many tears, and some begging by me, security did give back the snowglobe, and all was right with the world again.

we landed in rome and met max and fedi at the airport! it was great to see them both again. we loaded our bags and then off to stroncone we went. max and family fed us a wonderful spaghetti, bruschetta, rotolo di spinaci meal. it was delicious! I had 2 helpings of the spaghetti, potatoes, and filetto in crosta. cristiana is an excellent cook!!

our home/apartment is awesome. it has 2 bedrooms, a living room with fireplace, and a small kitchen. we love it!

tonite max took us to the mountain range, prati di stroncone...we saw the sunset and have some beautiful pictures. we will post those tomorrow.

off to more fun, check back with us later!

heather, kyle, and sis

we leave in 2 days...

i canNOT believe it!  i've dreamed about this, thought about it, obsessed about it...and now it is FINALLY within DAYS!  absolute insanity!

things are chaos at best here.  clothes, electronics, homework--all strewn throughout my entire downstairs...i swear that a tornado has gone through my home...but, this too shall pass...friday at noon, the kids will be pulled from school, and off to the cities we go to spend the night with mark and krishy.

then early sat. morning we head for the airport and the adventure officially starts!

CLIENTS: 
all orders HAVE been placed, and kelli will be out here checking for lab arrivals and phone messages.  she will not have normal hours, since the studio will be on hiatus until we return from working out of the country.  we have phenominal limited editions planned, but, i doubt that i will have time to get the website updated prior to my departure.  look for the complete LE calendar to be up after i return in early february.
we did get all of our sets planned for the upcoming senior season, and i am SOOO excited!  as always, we change things around...and this year will be no different...cool cool UNIQUE sets...this senior season will rock!

thank you again, my dear clients,  for all of your support in helping me to make the decision to  have the studio on a small 'break' from the daily routine...i worried about if this was the 'right thing to do', but as you all pointed out to me...not taking advantage of this phenominal opportunity for my business and my family would have been the WRONG thing to do.  i feel blessed to have the support of such wonderful clients, so many of you have become such great friends! 

thank you ALL!

time to get back to packing...

h