Christmas 2012: Florence, Pisa and Rome Italy

Wow!
This was our Christmas present to the family 20-28 December in Italy.

Duomo Florence Italy

This Christmas was extra special because Clark and MJ's cousin Russell, from Colorado, was able to join us on the vacation.  We had a good news as we departed that his mother's Lukemia was cured from the bone marrow transplant and now it was just a matter of time in strengthening the immune system.
Our departure was on 19 Dec about 4pm - we walked down the hill to the train station, took the express train to Munich and then boarded the overnight train (8pm) for Florence (arrival 6:15am).  That was an experience in and of itself.  A couple of lessons learned, if you are traveling with kids, book the extra seat / berth in the car with Mickey Mouse if you have to!  It was not fun having a stranger in the car with us.  2nd, wear PJ's under the clothes, so there is no changing, as there isn't room for changing (at least not in the couchette).  3rd, plan to brush your teeth in the train station before departure, the water tastes awful on the train and 4th wear your shoes if you need to go to the bathroom.  Honestly, think of this as business class on a plane - lying flat while traveling is great.  All three kids actually slept for at  least 6 hours and Sean and I probably got about 4 hours, but it was enough to function and not feel total frustration the following day in a city where none of us spoke the language.

Leaning tower of Pisa

Arrival in Florence was cool, but not cold (after below 0 in Germany, 8-10 felt really good).  Our apartment was not ready so we started looking for a warm place to hang out for a few hours until things opened up and what do we see but a Burger King (not yet open) and McDonalds (open 24hrs).  So, off to McDonalds.  Ordered breakfast, now, their breakfast is much better than the normal fare and the best part is they brew Italian coffee and make the real hot chocolate pudding style.  Oh, my goodness that was the best hot chocolate of the trip!  We tried it in many boutique style coffee shops and while the espresso there is to die for, the hot chocolate was best at McDonalds.  Lesson, if you go to Italy with kids it is actually ok to do a fast food restaurant, just don't go to the main counter, go their cafe and get the local version of American foods.
After enjoying breakfast, we headed to the tourist information place across the street and started learning about our new "home" for the next week.

Gladiators and nobles of Rome

Lessons learned - 1) if you go to Florence in the couple of weeks before Christmas you don't need to make any reservations for museums and you don't need to spend the money on the Florence card.  We had heard horror stories of waiting in lines forever to get in, but that is the week after Christmas and during the high season.  So, rule of thumb, if you can find a place to stay that is centrally located and discounted, this is the very low season and you won't need to spend the extra money.  2) read a map, if the apartment looks close, it is!  We were told by the apartment managers that we would need a taxi to get to our apartment - the taxi took us on a lovely tour of small, one-way streets for 15 minutes, while our feet would have taken all of 5 minutes on lovely small one-way streets.  I mean we did walk 3.5 km from our house to the train station; we could have definitely handled the .75km walk in Florence.  3) when an apartment is listed as sleeps 6 think it sleeps 4 and then a cat (fortunately MJ is not much bigger than a cat); because that apartment was really, really small.  The bathroom for Sean and I - we walked in and to close the door, we had to step into the shower.  They don't have a lot of space in these old cities.  Fortunately, we pretty just slept in the apartment and that was really all we could do with 5 people in a space that tight.
We rented an apartment on the central market in Florence for our vacation.  It is a great location because not only could we dine, but we could shop for some amazing foods - watched fresh pasta being made.  Saw parts of animals that I have no idea how to cook or utilize, kids thought the intestines, stomachs, brains, feet and tongues were not edible. They were not thrilled to hear about all of the foods that they eat on a regular basis that include these parts.

Sight-seeing, well that is what the photos are for.  I have tried to put as much information on the different photos that I could.
20-22 Dec was spent in Florence
23-24 Dec was spent in Rome
25 Dec Florence (only a few places were open, but that was fine with us, as we actually wanted to skype with some friends and family members) and the best meal of the trip!
26 Dec Pisa
27 Dec Florence and then the night train home to Germany, with lessons learned.

The photos are grouped by Florence / Pisa  and then Rome.

There are a lot, but I hope you enjoy them, because we certainly had fun taking them.  Oh, and we want to go back, so anyone interested in coming over for a visit?

LRMC - Sean's job

After writing the Christmas letter I realized that there is just so much that I wanted to share and I didn’t.  We have tried to keep the blog about the travels, but I also realize that there is a lot more to our lives than traveling, despite my best efforts.

Last year we shared a little about the kid’s school, so this time I thought I would let you know a little more about Sean and I and the work that we are doing here at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center a.k.a LRMC.

Sean, as you know, is a critical care medicine doctor and that translates into he works in the ICU.  Most of the patients he cares for will never actually get to know him as they are on ventilators and extremely sick or injured.  When we first arrived the unit was very busy; however, in the past 6 months it has slowed down tremendously.  A very good thing for our soldiers down range.  The first year Sean was very blessed to have Dr. Silvey stay for an extra year to provide much appreciated mentoring.  Dr. Silvey had been here for 6 years and was able to provide the institutional memory plus hand over responsibilities more slowly than normally happens.  Most transitions are about 2 weeks leaving the new physician feeling very overwhelmed and under-equipped. 

This ICU is different from typical units – it is a Trauma service for 90% of the patients which means it is dominantly surgical cases and then 10% medicine – think pneumonia type stuff.  So, the team rounds with surgeons and medicine physicians and in many cases each patient has 3-4 physicians providing input to their care.  The biggest concern with units like this one is physician and nurse burnout.  With the decrease in patients and the number of physicians we have here the physicians are rarely on more than 7 days in a row with 2 nights of call.  Sometimes due to vacations or training the schedule can be up to 14 days, but that is very rare.  Last spring we were fortunate enough to have it be 7 days on in the unit and 14 days from the unit.  So, the first question that normally comes to mind is 14 days off, really?  No, not really.  Those 14 days are filled with military training and then administrative work to keep the hospital going. 

Sean serves on a number of committees and has taken on the role of education coordinator for the Trauma service; that means that when trainees are in the hospital he is responsible for their scheduling and educational activities and then providing feedback at the end of the rotation.  He is also responsible for scheduling all of the physicians, when they are on-call during their assigned weeks in the unit.   This fall he also took on the job of being the project manager for replacing all of the defibrillators in the hospital and clinics affiliated with LRMC that was more than 200 machines and lots of red tape!  Now, his administrative time will be filled with helping to update the notification systems for when there are different staffing needs.  With the military cutting back on soldiers downrange they will also be cutting back on staffing for LRMC making it so that physicians will be able to be on-call from home instead of in-house because they will be on-call more often. 

In January, Sean will head back to the states for 2 weeks to cover the ICU at Ft. Bragg – this will be an on for 6 days, off for 1 deal with coverage extending into the night.  Bragg does have a family practice residency so there will be a resident there to make the initial assessments and then they will call him for advice and guidance.  

When he returns he will start covering the hospitalist service at night to keep his skills up there, that is general medicine inpatient services, think kidney failure and other reasons people spend a few days in the hospital.  Then he will also start to train for special flight missions.  He is part of the lung team; that means he flies to pick-up a patient that is in respiratory distress and can’t fly without mechanical assistance.  2-3 physicians plus nurses and other trained professionals are all part of the team and they are normally gone for 24+hours.  Sometimes longer if that patient is not stable enough to fly, but never shorter – it just takes that long to fly.  Once he gets additional training he will be provide greater support for those soldiers.  There are a lot of very unique and special opportunities for his professional growth here and while we go for some extended times with him being at work, this has actually been the most relaxed schedule and work environment since before medical school.  It doesn’t hurt that when he is off, we can take off for something interesting or different.  

Russell visits - Worms and Paris

So, the day after we returned from Turkey we had the great delight of picking up Clark and MJ's 13 year old cousin Russell from Colorado.  He came to visit us for 5 weeks while his mother, Tasha (Mayland's first cousin) had a stem cell transplant to cure her Leukemia.  It was one of those God moments when we just knew that this is where he was meant to be.

Our first adventure was to head to Worms, Germany and learn about the reformation and the role of Martin Luther.  Russell was too jet lagged to really take in very much, it was a good way to keep him awake and moving, while getting a little taste for the amount of history that just exudes from every town here.  We were also delighted to learn more about the knight Franz von Sickingen, of the castle that Burg Nanstein, that sits atop the opposite hill from us, and that he helped Luther in providing protection.  Of course his motivations were not religious or noble.  Rather he was hoping that by providing assistance he would maintain his status of knight and in control of his little fiefdom.

Worms, Germany

Worms, Germany

The next weekend we took off to Paris to enjoy some art and a climb up the Eiffel tower.

Turkey for Fall Break

We had a 2 part adventure, well, actually a 3 part adventure for the kids.  Clark and MJ were not allowed to take their electronics with them on this trip ... the downside they complained...the upside, boy were they nicer to be with.  I had not realized before just how much I argued with them about getting off the Nintendo.  This was a million times nicer to be with them without them being plugged in.  For the most part, they were significantly more interested and attentive to the stuff around them because they didn't have an electronic distraction.

This was our first trip as a formal tour, and while I was hesitant about spending the money, I must admit that in the long run, I was very grateful I had arranged for the tour.  After the plane ride, we landed in Kayseri and then headed to Urgup and our cave hotel in the Cappadocia region photos.  

Day 1 was full of unique rock formations - think of the badlands mixed with arches national park.  

The people in that area built their homes inside the rocks/mountains for thousands of years.  Today, many of the caves are eroding due to so much use, but it is still a fascinating journey to go into the communities, churches, castles, and homes built into the side of the rock faces.  It was done for obvious reasons in that it provided warmth in winter and cool and summer.  It also provides a sense of always being gritty for the cave dwellers, not something I really relished past day 2.

Day 2 we went on a hot air balloon ride.  MJ was not happy about the 4am wake-up call to be there by 5am, but once she was in the balloon all of the cranky seemed to just float away.  It was spectacular watching the balloons take off in the dark and then the sunrise over the mountains.  We discovered that they had lots of squash, but they only eat the seeds of the squash.  They also have a lot of apricots, if you are an apricot fan, this is a vacation destination!

Our guide also took us to a ruin where the Roman baths were able to be seen, but the best part was the old church there with the mosaic floor.  It was really spectacular.  

On day 3 we flew to Istanbul (link to photos here). It rained that evening so we only saw the local St. Mary's catholic church and the Galata tower, with a great view of most of the sights we would be seeing over the next couple of days.

Clark and Craig

Day 4 would be packed!!  I try to describe most of the things that we saw in the description of the photos.  The two most important and memorable sights were the Hagia Sophia and the Dolmabahçe Palace.  The Hagia Sophia because of the juxtaposition of the Christian religion with the Muslim religion.  I must admit that while I grew up Quaker and the plain meeting house is still where I feel most comfortable, there was something very disturbing about seeing how the Muslim religious leaders would just cover up the Christan imagery with plaster to remove the human likenesses that had been created in the mosaics on the walls of the cathedral.  It gave me an insight as to how the Native Americans must have felt when the "white" man came in and desecrated their holy places.  It is one of those eye-opening moments of "do unto others."  So, while the Hagia Sophia made me more aware of being kinder toward others, the Dolmabahçe Palace was just overwhelming.  I was not allowed to take photos inside and maybe that is a good thing, because I think I would have taken a thousand.  It has more crystals than you can imagine.  Honestly, do a google images search for Dolmabahçe Palace and prepare to be awed.  It rivals Versailles in the ornateness of the decorations and the views.   There is actually a staircase where the banisters are made of Baccarat crystal.  No kids are riding that banister!

Day 5 was really special, my friend Craig Street whom I worked with at UPenn back in the day, was able to join us.   Fortunately, the day would be a little bit slower with just a Mosque and the Topkapi Palace so we had ample opportunity to visit.  I do wish we had the chance to see the Harem at the Topkapi, instead is a museum where you only see the crown jewels of the sultans.  The palace is not open to the public, just a few exterior buildings.  That evening we left the kids with a babysitter at the hotel and enjoyed a dinner cruise and show along the Bosporus Strait.
Our last day was my absolute favorite, no tour guide, just us and the other couple on the tour and we decided to go to the Archeology museum.  Now that was AMAZING!!  Actually saw items that dated back to ancient Egypt.  I still can't decide if my favorite exhibit was the mummy, Greek statues, or the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great!  It took me a long time to decrease the number of photos in that album.  I truly believe that what made it really special was that Clark has come to realize the true wonder of seeing items that have been made by man's hands more than 5000 years ago.  He is no longer bored in these places but has developed an appreciation for history.  I'm still waiting for this to happen with MJ, but fortunately, there were plenty of kittens at the museum to provide her with ample distractions.
My closing thoughts on Turkey, I have to say that I enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells (food too) of the country.  I did not enjoy the treatment of women.  The culture just accepts that women are not equal.  Many of the bathrooms were just holes in the ground covered by plastic that we had to squat over.  The smells there were not pleasant and yet Clark commented twice on how nice the men's bathrooms were.  The mosques don't allow women to wash or worship with the men.  They are sequestered for their washing (before prayers every worshipper must wash their hands, face, and feet) in a building that is a distance, while the men wash right at the mosque.  The men also have a huge space for worship while the women are cordoned off to the back if they are even allowed in.  On numerous occasions, the men would not acknowledge me but looked to the other males in the group to provide payment, or just hand over a bag I was carrying.  So, while the women show more skin in Istanbul they are not treated as equals in any real tangible way.  Although I have no interest in perpetuating their societal norms I would not ever go to travel there on my own.
Photos from Cappadocia - 111 photos
Photos from Istanbul - 253 photos

Switzerland with Grandma and Papa

Happy 45th anniversary Cindy and Rich Reilly!!!!!
8 day Grand Tour of Switzerland ...Photos

July 24th we boarded the train in Landstuhl and headed to Basel Germany/Switzerland and then on to Zurich, Switzerland for our first night.  Day 2 we took the train to Lucerne and enjoyed the beautiful lake and swans.  On day 3 we had our excursion to Mount Titlis (3020 m/10,000 ft).  To get up to Mount Titlis we took a train to Engelberg and then a gondola up to the Trübsee, followed by another gondola, followed by the rotating gondola which took us to the very top allowing us to walk around on the glaciers.  Day 4 we headed to St. Moritz, it was a beautiful train ride and we were fortunate to find a great playground where the kids could get rid of their energy.  The downside is that Sean started feeling sick, fever ... he thought altitude sickness here.  Our 5th day was on the Glacier Express, the slowest express train from St. Moritz to Zermatt.  Everyone was sure that they would need their electronics to get through the 8 hour train ride, but the scenery and food turned out to be all of the entertainment that was needed ... even the kids couldn't believe how beautiful the trip was.  Sean was still not well, but he didn't seem as sick as he was the day before.  Day 6 was spent in Zermatt.  Everyone, except Sean, took the cogwheel train to Gornergrat, for a panoramic view of the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc and other snow-capped peaks rising to above 4000 m/13'000 ft.  Sean spent the day in bed with fevers and a horrible tonsil infection.  Grandma and Papa headed down the mountain on the train while Mayland, Clark and MJ hiked 1/2 way down the mountain.  We saw the Matterhorn peak, which had been cloud covered, and the rare and elusive Das Alpenmurmeltier (gophers of the Switzerland alps).  Day 7 was a trip to Geneva.  
A couple of observations about Switzerland ... it is clean, very, very clean.  It is full of water fountains that are there for people to fill up their water bottles.  There are more stores to buy watches then there are in the rest of the world put together.  Ok, so maybe the last statement is not true, but it sure does seem like it.  The mountains provide a cool refuge from the heat.  One can go sledding in July on glaciers.  While Luther may have put his 95 Theses on the door of the church at Worms in 1517; the men who would follow in his footsteps would almost all be in Switzerland.  Switzerland is a country made up of mostly immigrants.  There are 4 national languages spoken in Switzerland: German, French, Italian and Romansh.  

Grandma and Papa visit (Germany)

Gate of Reichsberg Castle in the background

excavating Roman Baths

We had an adventure packed summer.  I can honestly say I did not hear my kids say "I'm bored" in the 6 weeks they had off from school.  The day that I dropped Amy and the boys off at the Frankfurt airport, is the day that I picked-up Mom and Dad Reilly.  A good thing, because the kids didn't have a chance to miss their friends with Grandma and Papa coming in.  Our first few days we spent here in Landstuhl, but Clark and MJ really wanted to show them Trier and Cochem (remember the castle that MJ had nicknamed "the Pumpkin Castle".  So, while Sean worked in the ICU we hoped on the train and enjoyed a day of wandering around Trier.
This trip we discovered a couple of new things ... the Roman bridge (Römerbrücke) which is the oldest standing bridge in the country.  The pillars are from the 2nd century.  The surface has been done twice since then in the 16th and 18th centuries and yes, cars do drive across it.  We found another site being excavated with Roman baths.  This was not for royalty, so it is clear that the Romans believed in being clean.  Turns out they had 3 bath locations in the city.  Near the bridge are two old treadwheel cranes, one being the Gothic "Old Crane" from 1413, and the other the 1774 Baroque crane.  Both used human energy to power them and from just looking at them from a distance, you can't tell them apart.  Technology was not changing rapidly.  Our last piece of excitement was finding out that we could actually tour the Porta Nigra, so we went inside of the gate and found out it had actually been turned into a cathedral around 1035; however, in 1804  Napoleon ordered that the Porta Nigra be converted back to its Roman form.
After a day in Trier we took the train to Cochem and visited MJ's favorite castle and did some shopping.  It was wonderful.  The kids really enjoy sharing their favorite places with visitors.  Clark especially likes to provide translation and guide services.  After Cochem we returned to Landstuhl where the kids had a few days to just be with Grandma and Papa before we left on our next trip ... Switzerland!

July – Magsig Family visit

We were so very fortunate that Amy and her three boys were able to make the long journey to Germany to spend a little over 2 weeks visiting us.  We aligned their vacation to coincide with Clark and MJ’s last day of school.  So, right after I walked the two of them to school for their last day of 5^th and 2^nd grade, respectively, I hoped in the car to head to Frankfurt to pick-up 4 very weary but dear friends.  I have never seen 5 kids so happy to see each other, all of the weary jet lag dropped away as they dove into Lego’s, talking, trampolining, more talking and laughing!  After a few days of recovery we decided it was time to experience a bare-foot path (Barfußpfad) – mud, multiple textures to walk on, freezing water and lots more laughter.  During the walk I thought my feet were being tortured, but afterward, they felt like they had been massaged for an hour, it was GREAT! 

Next trip was off to Cologne (Köln) to see the cathedral, 1248, with the remains of the Three Wise Men.  Of course, when Amy and I read there was a chocolate museum, well, you know where we spent the rest of the day – learning about the making and eating of chocolate.  Everything was in German and English and were very fortunate to learn that for centuries people have known about the health benefits of chocolate.  This was our first night of staying in a youth hostile and while it was nice, it didn’t come close to the one we stayed at in Koblenz (down the Rhine River).  Wow!  The hostel was in the fortress at the intersection of the Mosel and Rhine Rivers.  Amy and I, with jackets and wine, spent the evening gazing at the scenery while the 5 kids explored the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress.  Much to the delight of the boys, they had barely explored ¼ of the Fortress as we started to really explore it the following day.  What I had thought would be a couple of hours, turned into all day!  It was spectacular.  Some type of a fortress has been at that site since 1000 BC.  The present fortress is Europe’s second largest preserved fortress, built between 1817 and 1828 in its present-day design.  Despite a few rain showers we had a great time. 

Our next city to explore was Heidelberg.  We walked all through the city, saw the University, practiced jumping off a log in a synchronized manner (was a total failure but tons of fun), got caught in a little rain storm at a play ground, and then explored the castle.  Thought we were going to do so much more, but the castle captured the imaginations of the kids and then our rumbling tummy’s decided we needed to dine at the castle restaurant.  Really, how often does one get to dine at a castle? 

Off to Trier, this time with Sean.  Oh, my, we had gladiator battles at the coliseum, played hide and seek in the ancient Roman baths, found out that the basilica was actually the throne room and not a church for Constantine.  We took a little train tour (think trolley made to look like a train) of the city to rest our weary feet and then went to see the church and cathedral (Dom).  Remember that Trier’s Dom is the oldest cathedral in Germany?  It was the building that captured Paul, he is 7, and he was entranced.  He took my hand to lead me around this church and express his ever increasing amazement.  Miss. Mayland – did you see the organ, ceiling, walls, bones, alter, chapel, and just well, Miss Mayland, did you see that?  And he pointed to all sorts of things with utter wide-eyes and wonderment.  I could not believe that of all of the sites we had seen this would be the one to capture the heart of the youngest child.  Now, remember when we were young and we would go into building that impressed us, and seemed bigger than life, but when we returned as an adult they somehow had lost their grandeur, size or whatever it was that had made such a deep impression upon us; I honestly believe that if he ever has the chance to come back, this place will hold the same awe and wonder as it did when he was 7; and it will most definitely not feel any smaller!

Our final adventure took us to the Black Forest.  We borrowed a friend’s mini-van and enjoyed the views of the mountains and forests.  There is a black forest road that reminds me of the 101 in CA (only without the ocean views) – winding road through little towns, mountains and places to stop to take short or long walks.  An alpine slide was the highlight of the trip, thank you Amy for suggesting we go.  Of course, the weather made it all the more memorable, because it was July and were wearing fleeces under rain coats trying to protect ourselves from the sleet that was coming down in the 40 degree weather, yup, you read that correctly, July 14 was in the 40’s – down right COLD!  But once we were on the slide, think drive it yourself rollercoaster, but all downhill and curvy.  After we were down the sun came out and we had a great day exploring Germany’s highest waterfall (NOT Niagara falls here) in Triberg and then Cuckoo clock shopping.  It is about a 3.5 hour drive from Triberg back to our house, and we left around 4:00pm.  We had easy driving until we were out of the black forest area and approaching the autobahn when once again we rediscovered the hideousness of traffic and road repairs.  After an hour of detour it was clear we were all starving.  The closest place to go for food was Strasbourg, France.  I figured I would easily find a crêperie, French fast food.  The boys thought it would be awesome to eat French food in France so I set out on the search, only to discover that the only ones were in the downtown area and would just delay us too much.  So, Sean and I secretly discussed the idea of stopping at McDonald’s … well, just as you are aghast to read such a thing, the kids were even more aghast to pull into a McDonald’s at which point James announced “Really, we drove all through Germany and into France to eat French food and we are eating at MCDONALDS?!?!?!?!?”  I think we heard that about 20 times through and after dinner.  I think it will make a great title for his “what I did on summer break” essay for back to school.
The link to the full photo album (well, selected photos from over 500 taken)